“I Remember” Poems
This is based on Joe Brainard’s book length poem called “I Remember” which is
about 100 pages of nothing but memories from his life, all of them beginning with the
words “I remember”.
“I Remember”
By: Joe Brainard
I remember the only time I ever saw my mother cry. I was eating apricot pie.
I remember how much I used to stutter.
I remember the first time I saw television. Lucille Ball was taking ballet lessons.
I remember Aunt Cleora who lived in Hollywood. Every year for Christmas she sent my
brother and me a joint present of one book.
I remember a very poor boy that had to wear his sister’s blouses to school.
I remember shower curtains with angelfish on them.
I remember very old people when I was very young. Their houses
Smelled funny..
I remember daydreams of being a singer all alone on a big stage with no scenery, just
one spotlight on me, singing my heart out, and moving my audience to total tears of
love and affection.
I remember waking up somewhere once and there was a horse staring me in the face.
I remember saying “thank you” in reply to “thank you” and then the other person
doesn’t know what to say.
I remember how embarrassed I was when other children cried.
I remember one very hot summer day I put ice cubes in my aquarium and all the fish
died.
I remember not understanding why people on the other side of the world didn’t fall off.
1. What do you notice about the types of memories the poet chose to describe?
I noticed that most of his memories were when he was young and funny and not intense
2. What is the tone of the poem? How do you know? Show evidence
The tone of the poem is calm and everything because it has everything
Now it’s your turn! You will write your own “I remember” poem. Each memory that
you list should be about very different times in your life.
For example, make one about something that happened in the last 24 hours...Then
make another one about the earliest memories you have. Everything else should be
in between.
You may go in chronological order, but you do not have to, it may jump around in
time.
Remember to concentrate on each one long enough to bring out its specialness.
Consider the things you might want to write about: I remember...
 A person
 A detail about a person
 A specific place (like a hiding place or a corner of a tree house)
 A smell
 The shape of something
 An event
 An inanimate object that may have witnessed an event
 The quality of air or light that day
Here’s a tip: If you want to write about a person, it’s better to soon switch to one of
the other things on the list to continue to talk directly about the person. Consider
the difference between these two short memories:
 I remember my first grade teacher. He was very nice.
VERSUS…
 I remember the small glass frog my first grade teacher had on his desk.
1. What is the difference between these two memories? Which one is better? Why?
The second brings a image and it is more unique to the person speaking and not all can say
that like they can say that his first grade teacher was nice
BRAINSTORM
Memory Brainstorm.
Why is it special?
Only write key phrases/ideas. These do NOT need to be
the ones you actually use. It is just to get the ideas
flowing! Add more rows as needed.
What makes this image, event, person, detail, etc.
stand out in your memory? What makes it unique?
Now develop your brainstorm ideas into full detailed description of your
memory. Some can be more than one sentence. None should get too involved in a
story. Stick with the specific details.
For example: “I remember punching Dr. D’Angelo in the stomach the year
before he was my 7th grade teacher. He let us all punch him one by one
because he was wearing a sumo suit. He said mine was a good punch!
Start writing!
Include at least two metaphors and two similes.
Focus on the mood and tone you want to create by choosing your words wisely.
I remember opening the fridge and seeing tomatoes at about 1 am that was the first time I
got out of my crib and went to the kitchen alone
I remember being on my crib and suddenly feeling Talco on my face it was my brother
purring it on me
I remember having my first batman pajama and pretending to be like batman
I remember going on my first cruise and being afraid that a shark was going to eat it
I remember that when I was going on a trip I literally changed of world
I remember trying to make a telescope with toilet paper but it didn’t work
I remember my first goal and celebrating it with Gabriel Villanueva and we celebrated as a
airplane
I remember my parents buying me a lizard webkinz in Alaska and giving it to me
I remember making a build a bear and putting batman suit on it
I remember playing a game which we got on top of a car and jumped but when I jumped I
fell on my head
I remember having a costume as a power ranger and acting like one in Halloween
I remember scoring my first touchdown and getting tackled in the end zone
I remember getting my head stitched after falling in stairs in school and opening it
I remember catching little fish in South Padre Island
I remember going fishing and my brother falling into the water
I remember going for first time to my cabin
I remember wake boarding for the first time and falling in my face
I remember going on a parachute that has seats and a boat taking us we were very high
and besides the stars
I remember almost falling into a frozen pond in my cabin
I remember inviting friends to my cabin and playing with throwing knifes in the snow
I remember breaking my finger and then getting a nail inside it and stiches
I remember my first time scuba diving and I becoming a fish
I remember having my first Polaris and almost crashing it
I remember shooting my bow and arrow for first time and almost hitting a guy