Super proud of Dr. Fabu Carter being named 2023 Jeffrey Clay Erlanger Civility in Public Discourse Award winner. She and I began working together on the Alzheimer’s Poetry Project, (APP) 14 years ago. During that time she has led hundreds of poetry workshops in the Madison, Wisconsin area.
She is currently working with me on the Poetry on Wheels project which is funded by President Biden’s American Rescue Act. We are partnering the Community Care Inc., to bring poetry to nuns living in four convents in Milwaukee.
Dr. Carter works on behalf of disadvantaged and marginalized communities through her work at the UW School of Medicine & Public Health Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center’s Inclusion of Underrepresented Groups Program, where she serves as a senior outreach program manager – increasing awareness of Alzheimer’s in the African American community.
In part she was hired by Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, due to the expertise she had built up from our work with the APP and now all she has learned there feeds our work together.
Southern Love by Fabu Carter
I want love
to be like a good pot of greens
pick the tenderest parts
separate from the hard stem
wash gently and thoroughly
removing every bit of dirt and grime
rinsing over and over and over
with the clear, clean water of forgiveness
season with savory meat, herbs and spices
and then simmer, simmer, simmer.