Poem Formula inspiration: Where I am from

Poetry is not difficult. If you possess one of the five senses, poetry is in it. If you can compose text message, tweet or Facebook status, you can write poetry. If you can rap a song, you can rhyme poetry. If you can memorise a prayer, you can recite poetry. If you struggle to make sense of formatted text, poetry is your call.

― Gloria D. Gonsalves
Farmors started embroidery in my stash (Photo Copyright Hanna Andersson)
My grandmother’s started embroidery in my stash, inherited beauty.

I love poetry and used to write it often when I was younger. I still write but sometimes years pass without me writing a single poem. Now it’s been a while. A long while. And I rarely share my poetry with anyone because it is so personal to me. But today I am making an exception.

Today’s poem is written using a poem formula that I found online (links below). I did not think it would inspire me, but as soon as I opened it up and started thinking about the prompts, I wanted to fill in the blanks and make my own version. So I did.

Here it is.

I am from orange linoleum carpets,
from a red Walkman and IKEA’s Ivar shelves in my forest room.
I am from the two apartment house that my grandfather built,
homely, creaky, with a garden where I walked barefoot to the cherry tree and ate my fill
of the ripe berry fruit flesh.

I am from the wild blueberries hidden in the forest,
and fresh rhubarb stems from behind the house,
that mom made into pie with a crunchy crust, dripping with vanilla sauce.

I’m from my aunt, uncle and the cousin’s annual birthday celebrations
with big family gatherings, cake and singing,
and the creativity of my ancestors,
from Ruth Viola and Inga Eugenia,
I’m from salt-water aquariums and dancing around the Christmas tree.

From “never swim after dinner” and “pink does not go with orange”,
I’m from pagen parents, born out of wedlock, never baptized
and proud of it.

I am from the childish trust that “Jesus is with me”
walking straight out on the street without looking out for cars.
I’m from the middle of Sweden,
smörgåsbord, fika.

From the grandmother that read my mother’s diary which eventually made her leave home a teenager,
from my dad’s strong hands that built me a climb-up bed for my 10th birthday,
and the hand sewn lace canopy that my mom hung over the surprise bed,
that had a secret compartment where I kept my own diary safe.

I’m from the birth of my brother, that completed the family
even though I wished for a puppy for so long,
from all the recorded hours of home VHS tapes that document everyone that I love
because I wanted to remember it all, keeper of memories.

/Hanna

Studio iHanna Scalloped Border

This poem was inspired by a poem formula (PDF) made from the original poem “Where I’m From” by the writer and teacher George Ella Lyon. She made the list into a poem formula that you can fill in yourself, to see what kind of poem you will create. Even if you have never written a poem before you will be able to create one by filling in those blank spaces. I hope you will give it a try.

It can, of course, be written in many different ways, depending on your mood and what you want to include. Mine is more earthy and green than I think my childhood as whole was, but it was that too. Maybe it’s a list idea to visit several times during life?

Ella Lyon has said about her own poem:

In the summer of 1993, I decided to see what would happen if I made my own where-I’m-from lists, which I did, in a black and white speckled composition book. I edited them into a poem — not my usual way of working — but even when that was done I kept on making the lists. The process was too rich and too much fun to give up after only one poem. Realizing this, I decided to try it as an exercise with other writers, and it immediately took off. The list form is simple and familiar, and the question of where you are from reaches deep.

And here’s her poem in case you want to read it too:

In the PDF you get fill-in-lines to complete your own poem, so why not give it a try? But be warned, it feels like taking a deep dive into your own childhood when you do this exercise. For me, the two poems under the formula helped me get going.

Where poems come from

I love poetry and this was a really fun idea to me. Do you write poetry? Have you done this exercise, and if so, can I read it anywhere? What did you think of my poem? Did you understand it or was it confusing? Did it evoke any strong images? Any questions for me? Would you like to write your own poem? Will you dare give poetry a try this week? xo

This post is part of NaBloPoMo where I write 30 blog posts in November. Thanks for reading and leaving me a comment, it encourages me to keep going. To follow along subscribe to blog posts via email or RSS. I also have a sweet Substack Newsletter about art, craft and creativity that you might want to sign up for so that we can keep in touch in the future. I’d love that. On instagram I’m @ihannas and on YouTube Studio iHanna. Take care and stay creative friends.


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11 Responses

  1. this is one of my favorite ways to write a poem. I’m sure I did one on my now abandoned blog, “pink sneakers n’at.” I wanted to also tell you that I have sent my 10 postcards (except 1, Canada post officers are on strike.)

  2. Oh, this is beautiful, I felt tears welling up as I read and thought of happier memories from my own childhood. So beautiful. And what a wonderful way to create a unique version for everyone. And here’s to Fika, always. May your coffee always be hot and fresh.

    • Thank you Alexandra, I feel this formula is like a deep dive into what childhood was all about. I hope you give it a try if you feel called to write about your own childhood. :-)

  3. Yes, I saw this on Engie’s blog. It’s really beautiful! Yours is beautiful! What a great template to work from.

  4. I just thought… didn’t someone else post a poem like that and then you mentioned Engie! Right!

    This was great. I enjoyed reading more about your childhood.

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