Seven steps to making a memorial poem
- To make the process all the more meaningful, consider these questions:
- What’s your intention in making a poem for your loved one?
- What’s the benefit you seek?
- Reach out. Tell me your interests and your questions. Then we can schedule a free 15-minute phone consult to discuss the best way forward.
- Choose the level of your participation and my service:
- On Your Own: You write the poem yourself (or with family and friends), using my free Writing Guide.
- One-to-One: You write the poem, using the free Writing Guide, and polish it with my coaching.
- Commission: Based on our conversation and your (or your group’s) written reflections, I write the poem for you, incorporating two sets of your revisions.
- Four-by-Four: You enlist three others and enroll in a series of four one-hour online classes. I coach each of you as you write and revise your poems in a setting of mutual support.
- Choose the extras:
- an audio recording of the poem as I voice it
- a digital image of the poem, on a background and with a photo you select, to upload to your phone
- assistance arranging for printing and framing the poem
- We complete a Memo of Understanding to record our agreements about who does what and by when. You send me your payment — credit cards accepted.
- I provide the services and you provide the participation that we have agreed upon.
- Unless you choose otherwise, I publish the poem on memorialpoems.org as a public or private post, as you wish.