Six-Word Memoirs

For my 25th birthday, my friends Randal and Ginny gave me a cool book called "Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure." The 6-word story was supposedly first posed as a challenge to Hemingway, who came up with "For Sale: baby shoes, never worn."

At my birthday party, we passed the book around the wine bar and tried to brainstorm some 6-word memoirs. I was talking that night about how I'll struggle not to cry while reciting my wedding vows, considering that I tear up at this dog food commercial:

So Ginny suggested this one for me: "I cry at dog food commercials."

Today feels more basic, like maybe: "Wake up, make coffee, live life."

Some favorites from the book: 

"I inhale battles. I exhale victories." -William Heath

"Cheese is the essence of life." -Mary Lynch

"Became more like myself every year." -Eddie Sulimirski

"Fifteen years since last professional haircut." -Dave Eggers

What's your 6-word memoir?

Poetic Pair

Do you like your poetry lyrical and sprawling? Or sparse and shocking?

Either way, the Dickman twins, Matthew and Michael, have got you covered. I became fascinated by the story of these talented identical twins when I stumbled upon this recent New Yorker article (sorry, membership required to read full text). You can get more of their background story from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The New Yorker piece explores the vastly different ways in which their works tackle shared experiences. Amazing.

Michael's The End of the West and Matthew's All-American Poem are available now through Copper Canyon Press. Yep, published by the same press. Michael's book was accepted for publication by Copper Canyon, then Matthew entered his manuscript for the American Poetry Review/Honickman First Book Prize—and won publication by Copper Canyon. The publisher seems a little worried that they'll take flack for doing something gimmicky, but I think it's good publicity for poetry (it could use some identical, blue-eyed, straight-male poster boys).

As you know, I am a firm supporter of people reading and writing more poetry. So check out: Michael stuff at The Narrative magazine online (includes audio!); Matthew stuff at TheStory.org.

Both are reading this year at the Sarah Lawrence Poetry Festival, tempting me to brave a trip to my alma mater. Dare I? Dare I?

Write poem-trees

Just came across this snippet from Billy Collins in a book of quotations intended for kids. Maybe this was weirdly abbreviated or taken out of context?:

"I think more people should be reading it [poetry] but maybe fewer people should be writing it. . . There's an abundance of unreadable poetry out there."

With all due respect to our nation's former Poet Laureate, I strongly disagree. Maybe fewer people should be submitting their poetry to literary journals of a certain caliber, but I firmly believe that MORE people should be simply writing poetry.

This reluctance to encourage poetry writing seems widespread. I had a high school English teacher who decided to entirely forgo a poetry unit because, "If you write it, I have to read it."

I believe that poetry is undervalued as an outlet for self-expression and as a vehicle toward self-awareness. For anyone under stress or experiencing hardship or grief, writing poetry can aid tremendously in the healing process.

It is one thing to sit in a writing workshop and critique a work of poetry. The authors intend for those poems to be read and critiqued as literature. But in general, I've always found poets to be generous spirits, and I don't think any one of them would knock someone for self-expression (fiction writers are another story). So write your poem-trees, and send them my way any time at all.

This is our life.

"I can't sleep. And now I'm keeping you awake talking about Swedish Fish and Li-Young Lee." —me to C. 

If anyone is wondering what it is like to live with your beloved, this should prove somewhat enlightening.