How to Use Poetry to Write Your Memoirs

There are many approaches to writing your memoirs, and poetry is a media that lends itself naturally to memoir writing. A memoir is simply a slice of your life, and as such, the poetic form is a simple way of recording individual events in your life. Try some of the suggestions here for using poetry to write your memoirs.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Paper and pen
• Your memory
• Computer

1. List all of the first times you ever did anything. The first time you went to school, the first time you moved, the first time you kissed, the first time you married, the first time you gave birth…you get the idea. Group these first times into categories and write a list poem about each category.

2. Make a list of all your favorite things. Begin a poem with “Here are a few of my favorite things.” Then start listing each thing, paying close attention to detail. Be sure to add your feelings towards the object that you list.

3. Choose an object from your past. Your grandma’s photo, the cradle you slept in as a baby, or the ring your mother wore every day of her life--the object needs to have some feeling attached to it. Describe the object with as much detail as possible. Be sure to add your feelings as they come up. How does the object affect you and why is it important to you?

4. Repeat. A great memoir poem is simply making a catalog of years. Begin your poem with the year of your birth. “In 1962 I was born and then died.” Make each stanza three or four lines, describing the event of that particular year. Add as many years as you want. This particular type of memoir poem can--and should be--added onto frequently.

5. Celebrate family traditions by immortalizing them in a poem. Choose your favorite holiday or tradition and describe it in detail. Or choose a years worth of holiday traditions, putting each holiday into one stanza of the poem.

6. Pull it all together by editing and revising. Remember, good writers always rewrite.

Tips & Warnings

• Use concrete language, adding specific details as often as possible.
• Take your lists of firsts and favorites and cut them into strips. Put the strips in a jar. Pull out one strip every day and write a memoir poem.
• Don’t allow yourself to get over involved with poetic form or structure. Just let the poem evolve.

Resources

• More on memoir writing

[wabrumbaugh]

on 11/12/2009 I like this idea a lot. Most of my poetry is personally reflective so I dig it. :) 5*