Write a poem about a memory as if you were teaching others to recreate it as something physical: a recipe, a pattern, an instruction manual, etc. Use the terminology of the specific craft or activity (e.g., crochet, woodworking, electronics, car repair). Include materials and tools. Assign it a skill level (novice, intermediate, advanced); would it be useful to have any skills or knowledge before they begin? Give detailed instructions, handy tricks, cautions. Embrace absurdly literal implications.

---

Jessica Coles (she/her) is a poet and songwriter from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, where she lives with her family and a variety of interesting critters. Her work has appeared in print and online at Moist Poetry Journal, Full Mood Mag, Stone Circle Review, Contemporary Verse 2, The Fiddlehead, Capital City Press Anthology (Vol. 4), Ghost City Review, slips slips, and elsewhere. She has published two chapbooks through Prairie Vixen Press, and her third chapbook, Amphbiography, is forthcoming from Big Pond Rumours Chapbook Press in Summer 2026.