Family Poems

The topic of family poems could go any number of ways. We could discuss poems written about families. Certainly, there are plenty of those to go around. Stories about how families are supposed to interact or, perhaps, how they should not interact, would all be relevant. There are also stories which are written by family members about their own family. These little gems can be excellent resources for family histories, celebrating anniversaries and birthdays, or just times when the family gets together. Perhaps they can be gathered together and bound as a family collection, with copies made and distributed to each member of the family. Such practices are an excellent way to share memories and celebrate being a part of a family.

Family
by Antony Smith

The thought of collecting poems written by or about each member of the family is one of those activities that can become quite popular. It doesn’t matter when you begin, just pick some event or celebration and write a poem about the people who are involved in it. Once the idea has been started, it’s easy to keep it going. Make it a practice for every birthday. If everyone from grandma down to the youngest child participates (or is written about), you’ll be surprised at how quickly you accumulate a treasure chest full of memories. Expand that to anniversaries, graduations, baptisms, and special events and holidays, and soon you’ll need a second treasure chest in which to keep them all.

The Big Five-Oh
by Anonymous

For some, writing a poem about the family can be an extremely difficult thing to do. For most people, the family is just like a living tree, the crux or the center of everything we do. It becomes in essence, the substance of life. For people like this, contemplating the family brings memories about doing things together, such as during major religious holidays or weekends at a favorite family gathering place. But for others, the idea of family has significantly different meanings. For them, writing anything about their family conjures up some rather difficult and perhaps painful memories, with all manner of trauma, stress and loss.

If you find yourself facing the task of writing a family poem, perhaps you might begin by asking why you’re writing the poem in the first place. It is sometimes difficult to force yourself to write when you don’t feel comfortable or when you feel inadequate to the task, but that’s really the best time to work at the skill of writing poetry. You’ll be surprised after you get going that you’ll begin to really enjoy what you’re doing. If you’re in a situation where the poem is about some negative emotion you’re experiencing or about some tremendous loss regarding a family member, it is often very healthy to get those feeling down on paper. Or perhaps you just want to relate to someone how special they are to you and how much they have influenced your life. Regardless of the reason, just allow your artistic nature and impulses to shape and develop the picture that your words are creating.