I recently read an article about Anne Porter, a 95-year-old poet who published her first volume of poetry when she was 83 years old. She writes about what it’s like to be old, as in this verse from "Old in the City":

You stay away from doctors,

They’d send you to the hospital,

Where pieces are cut out of you,

And after that you die.

It reminds me how powerful poems are as a way to express what we are experiencing as human beings. And that we have within us the ability to express ourselves up to the very end.  The article goes on to say that Mrs. Porter keeps writing because even though she can’t sing anymore, or dance anymore, or drive anymore, she can still write.

My friend, Ilene Kouzel, wrote poem after poem in her last year of life, while stricken with ALS.  Even though she could no longer walk or dance or even roll over in bed, she could write.  On Monday, over at the Conscious Living, Conscious Leaving blog, we’ll be publishing a series of Ilene’s poems about dying and living, one each week.

The shared human experience can start with writing. Write a poem today.