A Memory Of Us By Safia Elhillo Meaning

Kalen Kinzell

Professor Joshua Fornelli

English 110

8 February 2023

“A Memory of Us”

Have you ever truly considered what a memory actually is? Several people define a memory as something remembered from the past. But to the poet Safia Elhillo, a memory is more deeply defined. In “A Memory of Us,” the narrator tells a ‘story’ about an image she comes upon. The poet views an image, which leads a specific, happy memory to spark her mind. She describes that image in a poem, hence the name. The memory is about her and a person in her life who goes to the lake to have fun, and while they are there, they do several memorable things. She used the images to indicate a sense of a deep imaginative description of how she feels and what she sees when she

This suggests that maybe the memory was more meaningful and important than originally considered. She utilized countless phrases in her poem that led us to determine the poem type. Some examples included, “the open mouth of its vowel” (4), “gathering flesh around our knees” (8), and “of flowers for whom I downloaded an app” (12). These phrases are freely written, with no specifics. Free-verse poems have no specific structure or rhyme and can have lines of any length. They provide the poet an opportunity to write a story or poem freely without limits and restrictions. The use of free verse lets the reader determine and decipher the ‘work’ of the poem themselves. Sometimes, writing a free-verse poem will help the poet display their feelings in a non-structural, non-regulated way. Free-verse poems forces the writer to create their own ‘structure’ to the poem in their own way. It is a free way of writing, and not many versions of poems give you this capability. Free verse poems can, in a way, symbolize freedom because it allows you to ‘write freely’. It gives poets the chance to illustrate and communicate meaning through images, linges, and more. The use of free verse illustrates the freedom that the narrator felt by giving her unrestricted access to writing her poem however she wanted. Elhillo’s use of a free verse structure provides comfort and relaxation.

First person is a perspective in which the narrator tells a story in their own viewpoint. For example, in the poem, she uses several ‘first-person phrases’ such as, “I think” (1) and “of us” (1). The poet likes to use specific words, such as “I” and “we” to display and correspond with the first-person point of view. The poet’s use of first person allows the readers a present moment, and lets them understand the thoughts, experiences, and feelings of the poet themselves. First-person provides the readers a front row seat to the action, including a personal perspective on the poet’s life. Elhillo utilizes the first-person perspective to grant readers direct access to her thoughts and