Building the Memory

#BuildingtheMemory #Poetry15

Happy National Poetry Month! I hope you’re finding time and space to read and write poems this month. And if you haven’t been able to, that’s also OK. I invite you to think about how the month is only half over, and even if you draft one new poem during this hectic season, that is a huge win. Maybe this week, you can take your notebook with you on an errand and spend ten minutes in the car or on a park bench drafting some ideas. I hope this prompt inspires you to dive in!

Before I get to the prompt, I wanted to let you know that I’m now enrolling writers for my May Poetry Cafe, a generative workspace that will take place on four Saturday mornings in May (9-10 AM EST on Zoom). You’ll receive a tidbit of poetry advice/craft at the beginning of our time together; then, you’ll be invited to write a brand-new poem from a prompt (or work on one that you’ve been saving). At the end of our writing time, you’ll be invited to share your poem (or your process). After our four sessions, you’ll have four brand-new poetry drafts. If you’re interested in joining, enrollment info is here.

But back to the prompt. I found myself thinking about memory this week. How might we build it in a poem? How might architectural diction become a way to craft it—and play with the idea of craftwork—in a poem? As inspiration, I invite you to read Brenda Hillman’s “Statueless Architecture.”