It depicts his childhood in the 1940s and '50s in Oklahoma as well as his life in the '60s and '70s in New York City through a stream of consciousness list of moments and tangents that are prefixed with the phrase "I remember".

"[2] I Remember has inspired many homages, none more notable than OuLiPian Georges Perec's Je me souviens which was dedicated to Brainard.

[3] Poet Kenneth Koch was the first to utilize I Remember in the classroom as a prompt in teaching children to write poetry.

[6] In 2014 Mexican author Margo Glantz wrote Yo también me acuerdo.

In 2019, video artist Nguyen Tan Hoang premiered "I Remember Dancing," commissioned by Visual AIDS as part of Day With(out) Art, which "brings together an intergenerational cast of 'trans and queer gaysians' ruminating on the past and future of AIDS, activism, gay culture, love, and (un)safe sex."