Writing & Poetry
Writing For Life
As a teaching artist with EngAGE, I’ve taught a weekly creative writing class for residents of the Burbank Senior Artists Colony since 2018. The class is designed for writers at all levels of experience and includes writing practice to free the imagination, mining stories from life experience, and exercises to build skills and hone craft. Participants have the opportunity to share their writing in an atmosphere of mutual respect.
After six months of remote classes during the COVID-19 pandemic, we published “2020 Vision,” an anthology of work in fiction, personal essay and poetry, which includes vivid journal reflections on life in quarantine during COVID-19. To celebrate the book’s publication, I curated a literary reading and streaming broadcast with the authors, hosted by EngAGE founder and CEO, Tim Carpenter.
In 2023, our “Where I’m From” project culminated with a display of the writers’ work on this theme on graphic panels installed in several locations around the building. An opening reception included the writers sharing their artist statements, conversation with the audience, and music by a jazz trio.
Testimonials
“Sarah is a skilled, excellent teacher, sharing her expertise with empathy and encouragement and providing lessons filled with information and the tools to challenge and inspire us.”
— Sally
“I’ve been in Sarah’s writing class since she started teaching in my building. I have enjoyed each class as it unfolds from the opening clearing exercise through the diverse class writing from her prompts. I appreciate the writing tools Sarah presents in each class, and I appreciate that she pushes me to use them to be a better writer.”
— Dolly
“Sarah’s class offers the tools and insight you need to take your writing to the next level, helping you connect with your creativity in new and exciting ways.”
— Jan
is based on the model developed by the Alzheimer's Poetry Project. Drawing on research showing that reciting poetry aloud has the added benefit of regulating breath and pulse--not unlike yoga!--each session begins with a lively call and response chanting of lines from the poem of the day. I draw from a wide variety of poems, from Shakespeare sonnets to haiku to work by contemporary poets.. These poems serve as models for the improvisational creation of an original poem. I use movement, sound and props to inspire a sensory engagement with poetry.
These poems were created by groups at the OPICA Adult Day Care Center in Los Angeles.
Poetry Alive!
Work
Inspired by “What Work Is” by Philip Levine
by poets in OPICA’s Brain Train program for people with early-stage memory loss
I was raised you work for a buck
My father worked as a machinist
at the New York Central Railroad
I peddled papers
Worked in a kitchen scraping off dishes
I worked at Mirro Aluminum Company
pots and pans, coffee pots
The tedium could wear you down
Absolutely wear you down
You have to shut off the work day
Spend the rest of the day at a bar
I worked on a golf course at a country club
Found out how other people lived
I learned that you could
Light someone’s lighter
and make a buck
I wanted to wear a tie
To be a good provider
I worked hard to get where I am
I accomplished it
It’s been a great life that way.
These Hands
by poets in OPICA’s day program for people with moderate to
advanced memory loss
These hands have held the hands of friends
Dressed myself
Written reports for the church
Played baseball, football, ice hockey
Done anything I could get together
These hands have made bracelets and necklaces
Baked a cake, washed my hair
Given a massage
Kept the house clean for many years
Changed diapers, cooked an omelette
Thrown a javelin
These hands have given a hug
Lifted someone who fell down
These hands have held the hands of friends.
Testimonials
“My sense of poetry was rhyming and that kind of stuff—the way it’s taught in school and I’ve really never cared for. I’m much more easily accepting of what we’ve read and constructed here—than what I’ve been exposed to many times in the past..”
— Bob
“I was quite skeptical when I came in, and I got into it. I’m very glad that you’ve been here.”
— Mark
“This group has been very accepting, more so than other groups I’ve been in. You took the time for us to get to know each other. You were great about us sharing. It’s obvious in the book we’ve put together..”
— Nora
“You’ve had us rise to a higher level of awareness when it comes to poetry, including creating our own.”