Five how to’s to keep ancestral stories safe in a poem. As kids during the holidays, we heard stories told around the table about our ancestors. Some of these ancestral stories were funny, some sad or fascinating. Other were just plain every day events. Or were they?

Let’s Go Back In Time

Let’s go back in time to when we were kids. You are sitting around the dining room table during the holidays and the adults start telling old stories. You’ve heard them over and over about your ancestors. But you still find yourself laughing at the funny ones, or wanting to be excused to go play when the boring stories begin. Your mom is saying, “They lived in that tiny motorhome till their first home was built.” Which she follows up excitedly with, “Let’s get photos out after the dishes are done.” When she starts talking like this, it is always, no doubt in your head, your cue to go outside.

But, before all you cousins get your chairs pushed back don’t forget about your Uncle Direct. He is oblivious to little ears listening, and can’t wait to start talking about the mysterious, murderous and creepy stories that all us kids really need to be hearing so we can whisper about them when we are grown ups.

As Uncle Direct is still excitedly talking, the other adults try to casually glance around at you and your cousins. “How ’bout you all go on outside to play?” says your Aunt Casual.

How To Learn About Ancestral Secrets and Lies

While researching for my book about my mom’s adoption, mental and physical and her childhood while growing up in Indianapolis, Indiana I sat down with my mom several times through the years. One question I asked was,

Donna Jean, Coming Soon

“How did you learn more about the secrets and lies going on around you in the family?” I asked.

Mom replied, “I listened in on the adults conversations. Hiding under the dining room table, outside listening under the open window and pretending like I was engrossed in my toy. These and other ways, gave me opportunities to hear the adults whispering. Not only did I hear bits and pieces of lies and secrets, but I remembered what they said and began piecing together all of their previous conversations.”

Donna Jean kept herself close by the family to hear about ancestral stories, the secrets and lies, without being noticed.

Because of clever ways of listening and remembering what someone said, you can write them down and begin putting together your own family stories. These stories might not be about secrets or lies, but stories worth saving and sharing with your family.

Here are five clever ways to write about your Ancestral Stories and keep them safely tucked away in a poem:

• Dream/Nightmare Poem
• Mirror or Portrait Poem
• Animal Characters In A Poem
• Creating A Poem That Brings Out Their Well Hid Secrets
• Place Your Ancestors Stories In a Timeline Poem Describing Their Life Span Through Veins In A Leaf or Limbs of a Tree

While writing Donna Jean, I also began putting together poems that held a part of our families unsolved secrets and lies. These poems turned into my published poem book, The Death Owl.

Mystery In a Stare

Mystery In a Stare is only one of my favorite poems from my poem book The Death Owl available on my Amazon Storefront https://amzn.to/3UoJk7y The last line gives me goosebumps. It is exciting to find out that one of your ancestors did something amazingly great or scary and left it behind for you to discover!

Three Tips- Where To Write About Your Ancestors Secrets

Do you feel you want the freedom to write openly about more than your every day life? While writing about our ancestors secrets where can it be hid till it is published?

What if you want to expose family secrets, murders, strange happenings and lies without giving away the name of your ancestor?

Three Places to write about and keep your ancestral secrets safe:

• Microsoft Word microsoft word
• A Short Story or Short Story Video
• As a Fictional Character

Microsoft Word has become one of my favorite places to write out my thoughts, stories and secrets I want to hide for future books and poems! I am a beginner, but highly recommend checking into Microsoft Word!

In a short story or short story video, you can make out a timeline for one of your ancestors. From there, you can tell about their secrets in fewer words than a novel.

Sometimes you just want to share how you feel about what you learned about one or several of your ancestors. Maybe what they did upset someone and caused a family split? Whatever happened, making them fictional characters in your poem, video or book makes you feel more confident to share the entire story but change all the names.

As Always, Happy Writing and Reading!