Poetic Narratives of Migration Stories
Capture the courage and heart of your ancestors’ journeys.
Migration changes everything within a family dynamic, no matter the era. Families leave homes, cross borders, and carry memories, fears, and hopes with them. Poetry can capture the emotions of these journeys and help portray the feelings of excitement, loss, and determination that shaped future generations. Writing about migration also helps us connect with resilience in our family stories and can open our eyes to the hopes that other families share.
🖋️Poetry Form Spotlight: Cinquain
A cinquain is a five-line poem with a set syllable pattern (usually 2-4-6-8-2).
Cinquain: Wikipedia
How To Write a Cinquain Poem: Poetry 4 Kids
Cinquain Website: A scholarly exploration of the American cinquain as popularized by Adelaide Crapsey.
✍️Mini-Prompt
Write a cinquain about a single moment in an ancestor’s migration. Have them board a ship, saying goodbye, and/or arriving in a new land.
💬 Call to action
Share your poem with family or in a genealogy group. Since a cinquain is a short poem, create an activity where everyone writes a poem about migration. Grab a reading list, a checklist to use before writing your poem, and more from the article at Goin’ Poetic.