The Memory Map

an exercise

Greetings, writers—

I’ve been thinking about memory a lot lately, which regular readers of Good Ideas may have noticed. I’m not working on a memoir (nor do I have plans to start one, ever); I’ve just been really interested in reading about writers’ relationships to their pasts.¹

And while in a perfect world I would write a long, thoughtful post about creativity and memory, in the real world I have finally gotten Covid, and my mind is processing thoughts about as well as a bowl of warm pudding would. (I’m trying not to be terrified by this feeling, which is much, much worse than the extremely minor physical discomfort.)

Luckily, I came across a memory map exercise that William Stafford used to write his poem “Third Street,” which I can share with you today. It’s probably better than anything I would’ve come up with anyway!