As part of the adult education program of Mountain View-Los Altos (California) High School District, elderly patients at skilled nursing care facilities take classes in poetry. The poetry classes are therapeutic in nature, satisfying a real need for these very ill elderly people to express their frustrations, hopes, fears, and joys. All of the class members are in various stages of handicap and sickness, and their ages range from 65 to 90. Two methods are used to stimulate poetry writing. In the first method, poetry selections on a particular subject chosen by the class are read by the teacher. The group then shares and contributes their own thoughts and feelings to the creation of a group poem. The teacher writes down each line as it is given, and the teacher or able class member then reads the assembled group poem. The second method is similar, in that the class picks and discusses a poetry subject and the teacher reads poetry selections applicable to the subject. Then, however, the teacher calls for class members to toss out words and phrases about the subject as fast as possible, rhyming whenever they can. The teacher records and reads back the results. Through these creative processes these students are overcoming their loss of ability to do for themselves or to do something for others and showing just how exceptional they really are. (KC)