Family Stories
Happy Day!
Vacation waits on the other side of tomorrow. For years my clan has gathered in Northern Idaho for a week of fishing, hiking and cooling our tootsie in the lake. As I write this, I picture the others preparing for wonderland in four separate states, on two coasts. They load their bags with t-shirts and shorts, flip flops and sunscreen, books and a knapsack of family dynamics.
Without a doubt, before the clock runs out on our summer reunion, someone’s ego will be bruised, someone’s nose will be out of joint, and someone else will feel justified or vindicated for their unintended slight or comment.
Such is the nature of families past and present. From our families we garner many of our quirks and hang-up’s. Most often the same people who love and support us also detonate our vulnerable hot-spots.
This month’s Write Try offers prompts to help you write about family – your legacy and heritage. Use family writing to better understand yourself. Use it to understand the people in your clan. If you spend vacation time with your family, as I do with mine, you will undoubtedly harvest a bountiful crop of stories. Use them to write a journal, an essay, or memoir.
For Grown-ups and Kids
Family who died before our time continue to shape us from the grave. Consider this poem by Ha Jin and the prompts below.
The Past
I have supposed my past is part of myself.
As my shadow appears whenever I'm in the sun
the past cannot be thrown off and its weight
must be borne, or I will become another man.
But I saw someone wall his past into a garden
whose produce is always in fashion.
If you enter his property without permission
he will welcome you with a watchdog or a gun.
I saw someone set up his past as a harbor.
Wherever it sails, his boat is safe--
If a storm comes, he can always head for home.
His voyage is the adventure of a kite.
I saw someone drop his past like trash.
He burned it and shed it altogether.
He has shown me that without the past
one can also move ahead and get somewhere.
Like a shroud my past surrounds me,
but I will cut it and stitch it,
to make good shoes with it,
shoes that fit my feet.
--Ha Jin
Your Turn – The Past
1) Like the poet, have you ever wanted to "drop your past like trash" or "shed it"? Write that story. Did you change your mind?
2) Can your past be used to inform your future? Begin with the line "I will cut and stitch my past to make good shoes." Try that poem or story.
3) Ha Jin uses three different metaphors (harbor, trash, good shoes) to invoke images for his reader. Develop your own metaphor about the past.
How can your past be used to inform your future?
Characters
1)Write a "poem of praise" for one of your ancestors, perhaps "Ode To My Grandfather." Then write a poem of appreciation for someone who remains alive.
2) Develop lines for a poem from fragments of memory about an interesting character in your family. For Example I might start a poem called "Uncle Milt And His One-Man Band" with these fragments:
"big, gentle man"
"favorite uncle"
"his ears as big as bugles"
"his ski slope nose a slide trombone"
"poor pauline stands in the wings"
"watch Miltie play and sing"
Fill In The Blanks
Find photographs to fuel creative writing. Create a tale about the men and women and children in the photos. Who are they? What were they doing before the picture was taken? What will they do after the photographer puts the camera away? Who makes mischief ? Who is kind? Let your imagination feed the story you write.
