Our Poetry Cares project is about bringing people living with memory loss and those caring for them together to share poetry. We take poets into community dementia-care settings, such as Memory Cafés to read and create poetry which can spark memories and begin conversations.

Right now, we’re not able to take our project into Memory Cafés, but we can still share the joy of poetry with you. As part of the poetry sessions we run in Memory Cafés, we ask poets to work with their groups to create a poem that is inspired by the memories, conversation and observation of all those who take part. These poems can be made up of snatches of tea-break conversations, recollections which have been ignited by the best loved poems that are shared and also by the unique memories of those who attend.

If you’re looking for new ways to explore and share a love of literature during this stay home challenge we’re all in, either for yourself or with those you love, we’ve compiled a selection of our favourite poems written in collaboration with those who have attended poetry sessions with our poets between 2018 and 2020.

We hope you enjoy.