Poetry and Memoir writing are traditionally thought of as different kinds of writing but a mash-up can be very successful.

One way to use poetry in memoir writing is to think like a memoirist but write like a poet. Organize the poems with a theme, paying attention to the changes that occur for the author in each poem. Just as a traditional memoir writer should think about what changes, what obstacles are overcome. What resources does the writer have in the scene or poem to help them achieve their goal? What is the through line, the thing that ties all the poems, scenes, or stories together?

Here is a poem from my poetic memoir, Live Like Someone Left The Gate Open, which chronicles my childhood, mission in Japan, falling in love, leaving the Mormon church, but most of all my coming out process as a lesbian.

A Sip of Green Tea

I am here!
swirling a steaming cup
tiny green tea waves soon impact
the very core of my being

I contemplate this cup
with cherry blossom designs
a gold ring around the top
a “Made in Japan” sticker
still on the bottom
a gift from a friend
twenty-five years ago

Mormons don’t drink tea
coffee, alcohol, or smoke tobacco
consciously I break
this childhood religious rule

A lot has changed
I have a girlfriend, now
am an integrative medicine practitioner
Today, I have created a ritual
a healthy green tea ceremony
old codes no longer makes sense
do more harm than good
to my liver and my psyche

These days I no longer ask myself
“Is it true or Is it real?”
I ask, “Is it useful?”
this no drinking green tea
out of a fear of going to hell
but more than that

I must, as the Sufis say
kill off my ego

There is a part of me
that judges my self
and others by how strictly we observe

I feel separate
better than
because I live by a dietary code
today, I have to let go
of a piece of self-righteousness
in order to drink this green tea

Seeing the good in myself
AND others
I take that first sip
warming my soul
with a cup of steaming green tea

Poetry can be used to find the emotional richness in a memoir scene. I am currently working on a new memoir with very little poetry and mostly prose. I often write the scene in poetry and then add words and grammar, shifting it into prose. Sometimes I write the scene in prose and then take words away and mold it into a poem. Invariably, as I write the poetry part, I find new insights about the emotion and meaning of the scene. In some cases I leave it in poetry but for this new memoir, Mistaken for a Man, A Story for Anyone Struggling to Feel Comfortable in Their Own Skin, Clothes, or Community, I plan to publish the final copy in May with all the poetic emotion and meaning woven back into prose.

The poems can also be used in my marketing for the book. Of course, I want as many people as possible to read my memoir, so I look for places to talk about my project. I don’t want to publish too much of my book online before I publish but I can use the poems that eventually become prose to share the feelings in the book and give my audience a taste of what it’s about.

One place that I have been posting poems from Mistaken for a Man is at PoemHunter.com https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/horned-toad-memoir/ where you can post poems and quotes, along with keywords and information about the poem.

Here is an example of a poem from a story in Mistaken for a Man.

Men and Women; Oysters in Paradise

Hawaii 1977 on my way
to an oyster farm with trans creatures

Standing in knee high grass
my thumb out
he stops
door handles check
escape route check

“I thought you were a man
a young man hitchhiking”

I feel his desire then revulsion
wanting me to be a man
in his moving car

Resting a hand on the door handle
I look at the lush plants outside
picking the best place to leap
one hand on my backpack

But he smiles resigned
letting desire go
drops me at my internship
studying oysters who turn
male to female when needs be

Originally I wrote this story in prose but after creating the poem I added this line to the prose story. “I felt his desire then revulsion. He wanted me to be a man in his moving car.” I remembered the feeling once I tried to write the poem. I could sense his desire and feel his revulsion better by writing poetry.

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Kimberly Burnham, an award-winning poet living in Spokane, Washington is the author of Live Like Someone Left The Gate Open, a poetry memoir of her coming out process. Her second memoir is prose. Mistaken for a Man, A Story for Anyone Struggling to Feel Comfortable in Their Own Skin, Clothes, and Community is coming out in May 2024. She is the author of Awakenings, Peace Dictionary, Language and the Mind, A Daily Brain Health Program, a book of poems  on the word for peace in different languages. Almost half-way finished, her “Peace Project” is a quest to find the word for peace in 10,000 different languages. Kimberly’s book Using Ekphrastic Fiction Writing and Poetry to Create Interest and Promote Artists, Writers, and Poets is a how-to-guide for writers collaborating with artists and promoting both their art forms for mutual benefit. Her books are available at https://amzn.to/3wz2ApJ