Creating to connect compassionately with our elders to provide a sense of care, ease, beauty and community.
In this time of a virus that sweeps across Mother Earth, we all find ourselves more tender and vulnerable. Vulnerability comes with change. Change of job, changes to relationship, change to home, change to health, change to an understanding that the future, perhaps once believed to be secure, is open.
One of the populations affected the most during this time is the elderly population. Due to compromised immune systems and older age, many of the elderly folks in the States, especially those living in retirement homes, memory care or assisted living facilities, are experiencing a depth of fear unknown to others. Along with fear for their physical health, they also are more likely to be experiencing these hardships alone.
My mom works at one of these communities that combines assisted living and memory care in Tucson, AZ. She is in charge of community programs. I am a teacher and writer, and so we are partnering to create poems, letters, and essays to share with the community members she sees every day. These are men and women who are missing their families, who are full of questions, and who are navigating their own visions of what the future will hold.
For health reasons, families are not encouraged to visit their loved ones due to fear of spreading the virus. Many of the residents are using FaceTime and other techno-tools to satisfy their need for connection, but this is a generation that also values the power of the written word and the tenderness of a letter (as do many of us in all generations).
By writing a poem, drawing a picture, creating an image or composing a letter, we can share sentiments of shared reality– of hope, inspiration, natural beauty, familial connection and intergenerational remembering— with members of our community who are incredibly vulnerable right now. I’ve included a few samples below of some of the types of poems we are creating. There are guidelines below as well. If you are interested in participating, please get in touch via email and I will give you more details.
Creative Compassion Guidelines
Poems
- Style: You can use any scheme, structure, rhyme or free verse style you want: go wild with creative splash.
- Themes: We are encouraging themes around hope, natural beauty, connection with others, love for family, love for grandparents, intergenerational conversation, daily moments of joy, etc. Please email if you have a specific question.
- Images: If you are willing, you may also create an image (a drawing, painting, etc) to accompany your poem. The image can add an extra something-something and satisfies a need for visual beauty (see below for image submission guidelines)
- Submission: When you create a poem, please email it to kasawyer117@gmail.com (see link below as well) and I will catalogue the work by theme, check format, and send it to my mother along with your bio (see blow).
- Format: Please use Microsoft Word or Google Docs to create your poem rather than Pages. Please use 14-point font in an easy-to-read print (Times New Roman, Arial, American Typewriter, Verona, etc.). Please include a title to the poem and your name.
- Author Photo/Bio: When you email your work, please include your first name and a “headshot” or a photo of you doing something you love. The photo size should be under 300 KB and in .jpeg format. You may also include 2-3 sentences about yourself to share with the recipient of your work.
- Follow-Up: All works of creativity will be read and edited for any obvious grammar/spelling errors that make the work hard to understand. Otherwise, the integrity of the work will stay intact. If the theme of the piece does not feel safe, encouraging, or appropriate for our elders, I will follow up with feedback and ask if there is interest in resubmission. Though we cannot guarantee that we can connect all of the writers/creators with the elderly folks who receive their pieces, we will try to share small, meaningful stories on this site with the general audience. If the recipient of a piece wants to get in touch with the author, we will reach out for follow-up.
Essays/Creative Non-Fiction/Fiction/Letters
- Same guidelines as above concerning submitting; pay attention to font size and type, format, author photo/bio, etc.
- Letter: If you would like to write a letter, you can talk about your day, some of the things you’re experiencing with the Coronavirus but do aim to keep the tone hopeful, though realistic. You can share small moments of joy, things that are changing in your home and school, things you notice in nature.
- Creative Non-Fiction/Prose: If you write an essay, or a creative non-fiction piece, please keep readership in mind. Length should not be longer than 2,000 words. Remember, the goal is to connect compassionately with our elders and to provide a sense of relief, ease, and community.
- Fiction: If you write a short fictional story, please keep themes in mind of uplifting hope, connection, natural observances, family, friends, love, etc. Keep fiction to 2,000 words for brevity. Remember, the goal is to connect compassionately with our elders and to provide a sense of relief, ease, and community.
Art/Drawings
- Submission: Please take a photo of your work and email it to kasawyer117@gmail.com (or see below). We are not mailing actual drawings as some of the residents have concern around receiving paper/mail right now. However, we do have a high-quality color printer and can make replicas of your work.
- Size: Please aim for photos of artwork to be no larger than 1024 x 768 pixels, or 800 KB.
Sample Poems
Connect With Us
Email: kasawyer117@gmail.com
