Abstract
Invited to conduct poetry workshops at a senior center, Kramer observed the astonishing effect these sessions had on people who had a low selfesteem engendered by society's perception of them as superfluous. Provoked by the anthology poems distributed for study, and their first efforts at verse, they shed their aloofness and became a united group sharing long submerged memories, feelings, and opinions. The following year, Kramer was asked to lead more workshops that proved more fruitful than the first because members had to overcome their reluctance to confront sad even horrible subjects. Not all the pieces were gems, but all were honest and apropos. It was exhilarating to see the poems emerge in response to earlier poems and discussions. People silent for decades were amazed by the power of their words, both spoken and written, to win full attention and touch the heart of strangers, some ultimately reaching the public.
Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made.
-Robert Browning
"Rabbi Ben Ezra"
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