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Joe brainard: i remember

A stream of consciousness poem/memoir published in 1970, where every sentence begins with “I remember”. Memory is one of my favorite mediums, and Joe Brainard expertly sculpts memory into a written format that is intoxicating to read. While the memories are specific to him and a certain experience of mid-century America, they’re also somewhat universal and pretty tantalizing. I found the experience of reading this text to be deeply pleasurable. Here’s an excerpt: I remember when polio was the worst thing in the world. I remember pink dress shirts. And bola ties. I remember when a kid told me that those sour clover-like leaves we used to eat (with little yellow flowers) tasted so sour because dogs peed on them. I remember that didn’t stop me from eating them. I remember the first drawing I remember doing. It was of a bride with a very long train. I remember my first cigarette. It was a Kent. Up on a hill. In Tulsa, Oklahoma. With Ron Padgett. I remember the only time I ever saw my mother cry. I was eating apricot pie.  I remember when my father would say "Keep your hands out from under the covers" as he said goodnight. But he said it in a nice way.  I remember when I thought that if you did anything bad, policemen would put you in jail.  I remember a girl in school one day who, just out of the blue, went into a long spiel all about how difficult it was to wash her brother’s pants because he didn’t wear underwear. I remember the first time I met Frank O’Hara. He was walking down Second Avenue. It was a cool early Spring evening but he was wearing only a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. And blue jeans. And moccasins. I remember that he seemed very sissy to me. Very theatrical. Decadent. I remember that I liked him instantly. I remember liver. I remember the chair I used to put my boogers behind.

@salad_valet

Mar 20, 2025

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reminiscing

oh, how I LOVE a "remember when we...". Those were always my favorites: to reminisce, to share a laugh over silly stories, to realize that someone cares just as much as you about that one memory you hold close to your heart

@brancoclaro

Apr 25, 2025

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I remember by Joe brainard

This book could be considered just an epic poem and I thought I could get through it quicker but it’s basically just a book about everything that this man remembers in his life. Sort of like this site, it’s just a list of either super niche human experiences and also vague ones. The whole book goes, “I remember…” and then a sentence or maybe three will follow. Anything from, “I remember Valentine’s Day in school when everyone wore their nicest shoes” or “I remember sunday dinner” or “I remember when…” and it will be a specific memory of the writer. It made me really go back and remember things about my life and compare them to the writer but also just remember shit I haven’t thought about in years.

@BennyLiquid

Mar 19, 2025

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ADAM AND EVE

Celestial great-grandparents and their deadbeat grandson.  I think maybe one day, I’ll find Eden. So that I can say I accomplished something

@Anthonyrg18

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FARMHOUSE WISHES

  I wish I were born a mutated farm animal. That way, I'd only be suffered to live one night. In the morning, they’d take me out with a kiss from a rifle. My mother would lack the capacity to understand, in a way only mothers can. So she would do the only thing she knew, care. Care for my siblings, the ones born right. The ambitious, the smart, even the cruel. They would grow strong and be sold. My sisters would have calves, and one day, I would be born again. Or at least the idea of me would be, and she’d remember. My sister would look upon her two-headed calf and remember the starry night on which I was born. Unfortunately for her, she was more than capable of remembering the misty morning I died on. In that moment, my bovine sister wished she were born a fool. Unfortunately for us both, farmhouse wishes don’t come true. 

@Anthonyrg18

May 10, 2025