I'm currently taking a class in poetry through my college this semester. I really enjoy it so far, and have been exposed to some really fun assignments already (more later). Today I wanted to highlight a new emerging genre that my professor exposed us to.
Six Word Memoirs are blurred genres that combine the distilled language of poetry and flash fiction with biographical elements. The premise to to describe your entire life, in six carefully chosen words.
This was the brain-child of Smith magazine, who has recently published "Not Quite What I Was Expecting: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure" and the sequel "It All Changed In An Instant: More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure".
The genre is fascinating because you can experiment with visualization as well, which I am all about. This video on YouTube shows what I mean...
My professor assigned the class to come up with two of these memoir sentences, but you'll find if you try it that they are ridiculously addictive. I have a ton that I could share, but I thought I would just emphasis the one that I think is best-- and best representative of my whole life and life philosophy. So, Shelly Holder's six-word memoir:
English major
seeks better cardboard box.
It's one of those genres that I never really understood and never really got into. I haven't read much, and I certainly only tangetially write it, mostly because I happen to be somewhere else when I write a diary-esqe entry.
Yet, I'm starting to have affection for the topic. It's a growing interest for me, and I think that if an opportunity to be a travel writer comes my way, I would certainly try it. It'd be ideal, really, with a life goal of going to every single country in the world. It'd certainly be interesting if I ever manage to rent a yacht so I can circumnavigate the globe. And it certainly adds depth to whatever kind of writing I'm doing-- from academic to non-fiction to fiction and poetry-- from sheer life experience and a background in descriptive language.
Many of the authors that I study in class, including a lot of the Victorians like Trollope, wrote books on their travels. Ann Radcliffe published a travelogue on her trip through Holland and Germany, and Dickens wrote about Italy and America.
Clearly then, don't I have a duty to continue in this worthy tradition?
(snicker)
Anyways, it's a thought that I've been batting around between two furry paws like string. Amusing, but light-hearted at the moment. I have a lot on my plate, and I should go ahead and check a few points off my to-do list before I add on anything else.
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