![]() You can make the stanzas as long or short as you want, using phrases, fragments, or full sentences, but fight to use the most precise, concrete, sensory words you can muster (remember rule one from above?). One of the simplest ways to structure a poem or experience is using “I remember, I remember, I remember, but mostly, I remember” to create four stanzas. Make sure to include smells, which are often overlooked in writing, but add rich associations. On my own childhood home doodles, I have things from the yard like “the mud pit that ruined Mandi’s new Miss Piggy shoes” and “dingy white storage shed with the broken lock and swaying spider webs.”Ĭhoose details that create vivid images in the reader’s mind. ![]() Some annotate stories that happened in specific places. Some of my students tackle this task by drawing a map of their childhood home and listing the details in rooms or drawing specific objects they remember. Once you have a list describing the various places and experiences around that home, choose the details that are most vivid or a story from one of the spaces to explore. What objects or people are there? What season is it? How old are you? Describe it through the eyes of a child. Now take a deep breath and find your favorite spot in or around that home. Describe them including what you see, what you taste, what you smell. Think about the spaces you avoided and why. What does it look like? Is it tidy? Unkempt? Are your shoulders tense or relaxed and why? Do you hear voices or silence or the banging of the radiator that kept you up at night? Write it all down. How does the kitchen smell? Like bologna sandwiches or pancakes? Maybe you run straight through and to the backyard. What do you smell? What emotions fill you in that split second before you turn the handle? Jot down a few details including any colors or what season it is. In your mind, see the street it sits on, the front of the building, and the front door. ![]() It doesn’t have to be yours, but it should be somewhere you spent considerable time where you have vivid memories. Finish the exercise no matter what your inner critic says. Choose specific, concrete words by thinking about sensory details.Ģ. C’mon, I double-dog-dare you.) There are only two rules:ġ. The brainstorming alone will help your prose. (I see your I-don’t-write-poetry eyeroll. Using her advice, let’s tap into a childhood memory to create a poem today. In Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose, Flannery O’Connor said, “Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days.”
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