I have been a teaching artist with the Alzheimer’s Poetry Project for several years.

With APPMN I have worked with Memory Care, Adult Day, Assisted Living and Long-Term communities. I have also taught intergenerational sessions including those in assisted living with college students as well as with preschoolers and memory care elders.  We have a theme for the day and write a poem together of our thoughts and memories. And we always sing.

I lead poetry classes for seniors with the East Side Arts Council in St Paul.

I do one on one sessions with writers working on memoir, family stories and other writing projects.

I offer poetry workshops concentrating on themes such as response to climate rescue and nature, ekphrastic poems, ancestry, writers in translation, writing in response to poets from Emily Dickinson to Rick Barot. I help to work on gathering writing into chapbooks. And assist poets as they edit manuscripts for publication.

I am forever grateful for all my teaching opportunities. I am guide and fellow traveler. Always learning.

I could hear my abandoned dreams making a racket in my soul.
― Joy Harjo

I think I’ll keep describing things to ensure that they really happened. - Stephen Dunn

Treat poetry like a rollercoaster. You may not know the laws of physics, but it does not prevent you from enjoying the ride. Poetry values ambiguity and it is okay not to know all of its layers.  

— Major Jackson