Written by poet Karen Hayes, using lines contributed by people whose lives have been touched by dementia is the world’s first Wiki poem ‘Coming Back to Me’ read here by researchers, poets and supporters of the National Memory Day Project.
At the launch of National Memory Day, we asked you to create a poem inspired by your own experiences of dementia. The first line was contributed by Sir Andrew Motion, President of National Memory Day and former Poet Laureate and we opened the National Memory Day Wikia and put out a call for you to submit a line to the Wiki poem over the course of a month last summer.
We received 46 lines from countries worldwide and were touched by your personal and emotive responses sharing your experiences of dementia and also the subject of memory more widely. We then commissioned poet Karen Hayes, a specialist in delivering workshops and creating poetry for people with dementia, to write your poem. The National Memory Day Partnership wishes to thank you for sending in your lines, Karen Hayes for creating Coming Back to Me and all those who appear in this film. This is what you created.
