Poets at Hope

Poetry can be a wonderful art form for personal expression.  Here at Hope we have a poetry class where clients of different verbal and cognitive abilities are given the opportunity to express themselves in words, many or few.  Students often find hidden feelings and ideas that they may have never verbalized or even thought of.  It assists them in delving deeper into their own lives and can give them interesting insights into others while exploring the world of words.  Here are a few examples of work that came from the poetry class this last year. 

My Mother's Hands

are soft and pink
touched by rain
like the roses in the garden of Kew.
She used her hands for teaching
they held lots of little hands
Kindergarteners hands.
My little hands.

Cathy Acton


Cathy Acton spoke about her feelings when she wrote this poem:
"I was feeling nostalgic with love for my mom and was remembering her as a teacher.  For years she taught Kindergarten even before I was born.  I thought about her impact on her little students as future adults."



Big purple towel

Laying on the beach
    With a friend
We are there
    To watch the ocean
Listen to the water
    See people walking by.


Kris W.


Kris' memories came up for this poem of a special summer when she went to the beach with a new friend. 
"It was such a beautiful day and the sand was so warm."


In India

The rain, cold rain falls on the
Ground, trees, mountains
Tigers like the rain
They move slowly
Move their feet slowly
Slow brown feet
The way they move, slow
Looking for food
In the jungle.

Amy Lacher

 Amy says: "I have never been to India, I was just thinking about it a lot.  Whenever I think of it, it is beautiful."

In the poetry class the students are exposed to many different styles and authors to assist them in working prompts.  They listen to poetry, discuss poetic works and dialogue with the instructor on imagery and sensory visualizations.  Poetry can be transporting and imaginative, evocative and cathartic.  Our poets hope you enjoyed their work and look forward to more.

Christmas by Candlelight, Act ll

 Opening the second half of the show was the hand bell choir with a slide show of student artwork.

The hand bells.

Alexis getting ready for her keyboard solo.

The Choir.

Karen and Michelle start the 'Baking Cookies' dance.

'Baking Cookies'... the dance.

Ron playing his accordion.

Paul and Cathy sing a duet of 'The Christmas Song' or 'Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire'.

Mr. and Mrs. Claus!  (Maurica and Ben)

The Grand Finale, 'Joy to the World'.

The audience gives us a standing ovation!

The staff takes a bow.

Here is the second installment of Hope University performing in their annual Christmas Program, titled 'Christmas by Candlelight'.  The students enjoyed dancing, singing and acting as they participated on stage.  Photographed by Eric Stoner.

Christmas by Candlelight, Act I

Ben and Melanie are excited to start the show.

Our Hope Boutique features fine crafted items for sale, all made by the students.

Darren, Carol, Alexis and April open the show with the Chimers group playing 'Silver Bells'.

Dena's lovely voice sings 'Song for a Winter's Night' as Christie dances in the background.

A traditional Korean fan dance is transformed for the season with 'In My Christmas Dreams'.

'Silent Night' featured Ron singing in Inuit, the vocal choir with the sign language class interpreting.

Our trio of Tom, Paul and Howard under the direction of Steve Enzweiler sang 'Hark the Herald Angels Sing'.

Paul rocks the drums on 'Feliz Navidad'.

Fred shows us his joyful accordion with 'Jingle Bells'.

All of the students participate enthusiastically in the first half finale.

Hope University presents it's annual Christmas Show for 2011 titled 'Christmas by Candlelight'.  This program is one of Hope's yearly highlights and this year we were underwritten by several generous donors to be able to use the historic Plummer Auditorium in Fullerton California.  Any and all students who choose to perform are included in the program.  This is a wonderful opportunity for Hope to showcase the students many talents.  We have a hand bell choir, a singing choir, a men's choir group the Hi-Hopes musical group.  There is a drama group, the sign language group and several dancing groups who all were able to have a part in the show.  This is a sampling of the first half of this years program beautifully photographed by Eric Stoner.