Poetry--Plain and Simple

I have always liked Carl Sandburg's words that grace our poster today. A few more thoughts on what poetry 'is'

Poetry is all that is worth remembering in life.   William Hazlitt

Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility. William Wordsworth

Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful. Rita Dove

Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words. Robert Frost

Some poets write words that intertwin complicated thoughts with metaphors and other poetic means. Some write with meaning for themselves but the reader ends up confused. Do you remember teachers in high school trying to 'tell' you what the poet was writing about, what the poet was saying? Some are beautiful but confusing to the reader.

I prefer reading what I term 'simple poetry' by which I mean poems that are clear to the reader yet still portray beauty and emotion.  An example of this kind of poetry is one titled "Remember Me" written by T. L. Needham. The poem is included in his award-winning memoir "When I Was A Child."

Remember Me

If I should ever leave you,

And forget to say goodbye,

And you know I shall not return,

Don't let it make you cry.

Just know that I had business

in a place not far away,

Yet, close enough to you,

To hear each word you pray.

And know that I am always near

Though see me you may not,

But with you just the same,

in your memory and thoughts.

And know I love you always,

So wherever you may be,

I shall always be there, too,

As long as you remember me.

(c) 2010 T. L. Needham

The poem is plain, simple, but filled with emotion. There's little here that makes you guess, and there is also a heartfelt message. The author sent me a new book he'd recently written. The title of the book is The Biscuit and Other Timely Tales. He included "Remember Me" in the form of a bookmark inside the cover. I read it, then found myself reading it again and yet another time. Perhaps it touched me because of all the losses that have occurred during this time of the pandemic. So many people who can now only 'remember' their loved ones. 

If you find yourself confused or overwhelmed by some poetry, look for the 'simple poetry' like Mr. Needham's poem above. There is lots of this kind of poetry to be found. 

 

Less Thinking, More Doing

  Have you ever wanted to write a memoir? They're quite popular now. People are curious about other people and the way they've lived. Sometimes they can relate to another person's life or just admire what the author had done over a lifetime. Whatever the reason, memoirs continue to hit the bestseller list.

Like the woman above, many of us think about writing a memoir filled with family stories that will serve to be a history for our family now and in years to come. If we can write one that a publishing house is interested in, so much the better. Let's assume that you want to write the story of your life for your family first. Even that can be completely overwhelming.

You think about it a lot. You know you have some amusing stories, some that are heartrending and others that are simply quite amazing. You think about it a lot. You look at memoir websites which serve to inspire you. You decide that you will definitely write the book. You think about it a lot.

Here's an inside tip. If you think about it a lot but never start writing, you'll never finish the project. Your family won't have the benefit of reading your history (and theirs). You won't have anything to submit to a publishing house either. Whether you're heading for the bigtime publisher or a book for family and friends, you have to begin somewhere, somehow.

How do you avoid allowing a life story project inundate you? You begin with one small segment at a time. You can write one small story more easily than a 300 page manuscript. You don't need to write in chronological order. A memoir that begins with I was born on....at...during... isn't going to grab anyone's attention. Some people think a memoir must start at the beginning and move through the years one by one. Not so! I like memoir books that tell a story that grabs my attention when I start reading chapter one. T. L. Needham wrote a memoir of the life of one of his uncles. His book, When I Was A Child, begins during WWII when his Uncle Louis is taken prisoner by German forces. He hooks his reader immediately, then moves back to the man's early life.

Take an incident from the past that is important to you and write that story. Then do another. And again. Keep the stories in a file. When you have lots of them, consider the order in which you could put them in a book. Write and add more stories and place them in a good spot with the others. You'll know when it's time to stop. It's then that you'll have a book manuscript. Its up to you to arrange them in whatever order appeals to you.

Read lots of memoirs written by other people. Notice the order they have selected for their stories.It doesn't mean you have to do exactly as they have, but note whether the stories jump around in time or follow in careful steps from year one to the finish. Keep a record of the ones that especially appeal to you and determine what about that book made you single it out as one you liked a lot. Doing this will help you decide what style you want to use with your own memoir.

Don't let a memoir book project make you tear at your hair. Take it a little at a time. It's not something to be done in a week. It might take months or even years, depending on how much time you have to devote to it. The inchworm doesn't move too fast but he eventually gets where he's aiming to go. You can, too.

A Memoir Book I'd Recommend

A few weeks ago, an author wrote to me and said he'd like to send me three of his books. Being the reader and interested writer that I am, I accepted with pleasure. T. L. Needham didn't ask me to review any of the books, just said he'd like to send them. Within days, I'd received When I Was A Child, Pesky Poems, and Kitty Claus. The first is a memoir, the second a book of poetry and the third a Christmas story for small children. 

I've read all three now but the one I want to talk about today is the memoir. To begin with, the title of the book intrigued me as did the cover. Was this a memoir of the author's childhood and no farther into his life than that? The cover also showed 4 awards the book had won:

1.  Finalist USA Book News Best Book Awards

2.  Bronze Readers Favorite Award

3.  2013 Global Book Awards--Gold Medal History/Nonfiction

4.  2013 Global Book Awards Honorable Mention Best Book Cover

I was surprised when I started reading that the memoir is not about the author at all. Instead, it centers on his uncle, Louis Pfeifer. The story begins during theAllied invasion of France during WWII. Louis is a paratrooper who lands safely only to soon be captured by German troops. He spends the remainder of the war in a prison camp. The story jumps back and forth from that period to Louis's childhood which is filled with tragedy, sadness and, in spite of it, great bonds of love amongst his siblings. They all grew up in Hays, Kansas and the surrounding area. Louis's mother froze to death in a blizzard when he was only two years old, the youngest child in the Pfeifer family. His sister, Jerry, only a year older, became his protector, The close bond they formed during the tragedy lasted a lifetime. The family went through Depression era troubles, tornados, deaths, incest, a court trial and more. Louis and Jerry spent time in a Catholic orphanage while the older siblings found themselves on their own at very early ages. 

I started the book late one evening and was hooked so quickly that I stayed up too late that night. It's a fascinating story. Terry Needham does a fine job in moving from the WWII prison camp to the flashbacks of Louis's growing-up years. He weaves the two seamlessly and it is easy to see why the book one the Reader's Favorite award. 

I had one minor criticism, which doesn't take the reader out of the story at all. Some of the information is repeated when it's not necessary to do so. The reader would remember what is being told more than once. Believe me, it is a small flaw in a fine book. 

I write short memoir pieces but would like to do a booklength memoir someday. A good way to do that is to read other memoir books to get a good feel for the ways in which they can be done. If you have any interest in writing in this genre, I'd recommend this book. And if you never intend to write a memoir at all, I'd still recommend When I Was A Child as a fine read. It held my interest from start to finish. You can read more about it at Amazon. My thanks to Terry Needham for sharing his family's story with me.