Poetry offers space for tribal elders with dementia to express themselves

Victoria Smith reaches out to her father, Les Northrup Sr., who has dementia, at a poetry session at the Fond du Lac Reservation in Minnesota in July. Matthew Busch

Victoria Smith places a comforting hand on the back of her 88-year-old father as they create poetry in a small room on the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa reservation near Duluth, Minnesota. Smith savors these sessions with Les Northrup Sr. , who sits quietly with his arms crossed with other soon-to-be poets.

Her dad is her hero and first love growing up, a man who would sneak her out of the house at 4 a.m. to get breakfast. Now, living with dementia, Northrup can be forgetful, get frustrated and repeat himself.

This session at the end of July begins with a prod from facilitator Jeanne Warttman, who reads a li