The Life He Remembers Began in Costa Rica: A Collection of Found Poems

This book began in 2010, when author Savannah Stoner asked her father, Jack Maynard, to tell her about his life. She’d grown up hearing many of his stories, but whenever she recounted them, she could never quite seem to keep the details straight. How old was Dad when his family moved to Costa Rica? Was it Mario who went with him on that canoe trip? Or was it Charles? And even though she knew she wouldn’t be able to preserve her father’s entire history in one afternoon’s recorded interview, it would be a start.The poems that Savannah unearthed from their conversation tell Jack’s stories in his own unique voice, and touch upon some universal themes as well—the way we often forget early childhood memories, enjoy experiencing new cultures, find joy in good friends and shared adventures, do our best to live by a code of honor, and find that our lives so often take us in directions we never, ever planned.