Well Bonner-

My humble advice hinges upon your use for the poetry book.  If you are wanting a straight book of poetry I think you know how to make a chapbook.  However, I'm guessing that the grandma's who wrote the poetry are who you wish to memorialize.  Have you considered a multiple-genre approach? 

I love my grandma- she's one of my favorite people and I did this for her.  It started out as a class project for Diane Holt-Reynold's class and Danny Wade is to blame for lighting a fire under this one. 

I did some research on grandma's life and interviewed her by mail.  From her handwritten replies I made a found poem, which is my favorite part of the project. I added in photos of her and her identical twin sister at age 4, another of her wedding and one of grandma, grandpa, my mother and uncle when they were young.  From other documents and what I know of my grandma, I created a fictional diary from her as a young working mother after WWII and also included some of her recipes for cooking and canning.  I wrote a story from the pov of a young sapling that she and her brothers and sisters walked over so much so that when it got old it stayed bent and by the time I played on it, it was old and tall and still fun.  I did some other pieces too but you get the idea.  But what I did with all this was put it together as sort of a booklet, made copies and gave them as gifts to my family.  My grandma loved it, though she doesn't really like to be the cen ter of attention. With two grandma's you can do the same thing, only with twice the information to sort through and blend. 

I hope I haven't rambled on too much.  I modified the project after the class was over.  I feel as though I have a document that's both creative and accurate and can be passed on through the years so that after grandma passes away (many many years from now God willing) others will know just how neat she is and how much she means to me and our family. 

Oy, now I'm going to have to get started on some more.....so many cool people, so many stories, so little time....

I hope this helps, and if not, then maybe someone just got an idea for class projects next year. :->

Whatever you do Bonner, I hope you share it with us!

Best, Mindie Dieu