Don’t Throw That Poem!: Tips for a Successful Poem Scrapbook
“The roses are Red
violets are green
I’m so sorry I hit my brother.
But he was being mean.”
Kids don’t just say the weirdest things, they write them too. Whether this poetry emerges from creative writing exercises in schools, or in SONGS FROM THE HEART, HOPE THROUGH SONGS FROM THE HEART, and JOURNEY THROUGH SONGS FROM THE HEART The case of the 13-year-old writer, now deceased but never forgotten, Mattie JT Stepanek, due to special circumstances, muscular dystrophy, which bring a remarkable gift, rhymes can easily be lost over time, moved, thrown away school papers, or simply forgotten.
While our children’s poetry may not make it into best-selling books and CDs (Stepanek teamed up with young country star Billy Gilman to produce a CD), those sweet or inquiring verses from childhood and angry and angsty teen songs bring pleasure, joy and comfort. They are as much a part of history as official family records. How many of us wish we had saved our poems from clutter, neglect, oblivion, or (we hope) well-intentioned suggestions from parents that “you’re just not a poet” — or even a parent throwing away our writing? longings? You can bet Mattie Stepanek’s mom would never throw away her early poems!
Whether we have the gift of becoming poets or not, whether our children are Emily Dickinson or not, those scribbles and typescripts are part of our lives, our thoughts, our feelings. They are gifts in themselves, and loving children everywhere have the creativity to gift them. Mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, are moved beyond words when they receive a card on construction paper, or even created on the computer by a young Bill Gates or Charles Schulz. That card can contain a poem about “The best dad in the world”. Want to throw it away and keep all the store-bought greetings you take for granted? You can even take your spouse to fight with love poems, and you want to keep them too.
The answer is scrapbooking. Poetry on paper is perfect for keeping on scrapbook pages. You may want to create a scrapbook for family poems and created cards, or multiple scrapbooks if you have more than one poet in the family. You can organize family scrapbooks by writer, theme of the poem (Dad, Mom, the family dog or cat), or by occasion: birthdays, Christmas, anniversaries, graduations, new homes, weddings, baby showers, etc. Or you can include poems in scrapbooks you have created to record these occasions, scrapbooks containing decorations, invitations, announcements, pressed flowers, etc.
Some tips for successful poetry preservation:
*While it’s tempting to include the yellowed paper your child wrote their first poem on, consider recopying it onto nice paper and including it. You can include the original article if you wish, but do so alongside the typed or handwritten version.
Do the same if a poem has stains or spills.
* If you haven’t dated a poem by your child, look at the writing and compare it at different ages. Always indicate the age of your child.
* Always date family poems, either on paper or by noting them on a printed or handwritten label.
* If you can’t guess when a family poem was written, look at the occasion. If it was his 50th birthday or a particular wedding anniversary, you know the date (unless his memory is like a man’s!)
* When you have started to make a scrapbook with family poems, always choose thick paper for future poems or paper that resists well.
* If the poem comes with a photo, include the original even if the photo image is on the paper the poem is printed on. Or include a photo of the event or a photo of the family member the poem is about for an illustrated poem!
* Consider writing a page that includes sample quotes from family poems, a sort of “Best of the Jones Family” list.
*Finally, if someone in your family doesn’t mind hearing your voice recorded, make a CD or cassette of the poems and include it with the scrapbook.
You may never get your poems read across the country, but you and your family will treasure the memories they bring. So start writing and happy scrapbooking!