Sum it up in Six

Words have power. They contain a multitude of meanings as well as positive and negative connotations. So when you read any body of writing, especially a poem, each word is specifically chosen by the writer to take into account those layers. But as new trends in technology speed up the attention spans of modern society, like bands cycling through our radios and New Year’s Eve drinks going through our bladders, creative writing must also be quickly evolving.

First, to see where the trend is headed, let’s take a look at some old and new writing based on being succinct.

Flash fiction is a short story with a brief word count, usually between 250 and 1,000 words. Some micro-fiction, or nano-fictions, are even shorter, containing specific amounts of words, such as a “Drabble” (100 words) or a “69er” (69 words). The limited word usage allows for the writer to imply certain elements within the story. Some flash fiction publications are trying to infuse the six-word memoir into their genre.

The epitaph, a statement that epitomizes a period of the past or a deceased person, can tell about a life in a concise way. For example, Emily Dickinson’s tombstone reads, “Called Back,” Jack London’s states, “The Stone the Builders Rejected” and Dean Martin’s states, “Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime.” Each phrase creates a simple and distinct characteristic element about the person’s life that they are commemorating.

Now, take a look at the traditional haiku. Because of its brevity, it works on using specific words and rhythm. The first line has five beats, the second has seven and the third line has five. The poem itself should raise larger questions to the reader than the first read-over, such as this traditional haiku by Basho: “On New Year’s Day/ each thought a loneliness/ as winter dusk descends.” It can be seen as a sad poem, as a solitary quietness or maybe Basho just knows that champagne-induced mind-throbbing hangovers don’t always make for a pleasant New Year’s Day. Similarly, here is a haiku containing the same traditional rhythms with a modern twist: “Sex in the City / Sarah Jessica Parker / We don’t need more puns.”

Now, what if you could only use six words to describe your entire life?

Whether it’s known as the “American Haiku,” according to The New Yorker and NPR, or called flash fiction or epitaphs, the Six-Word Memoir is the newest trend in writing. This new style is quite possibly inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s response to write a full story in six words: “For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.” The concept of the six-word memoir is pretty self-defining, as it is to create a story within the confines of six words. Those words are chosen to allow the reader to think beyond the surface level. For example, referring back to Hemingway’s story, “baby shoes, never worn,” one defining idea might be that the character might have been pregnant but didn’t have the child. Another possible meaning might be that the story could reference the phrase “to know someone is to walk a mile in their shoes.” The character has never had the chance to be a child and is obviously ready to move on with that part of their life (“For Sale”). As a whole, we see many different interpretations can be given for that same simple phrase.

While there are now thousands of Web sites devoted to the six-word form containing six-word fiction, six-word science fiction and six-word illustrated memoir reminiscent of postsecret.com, at www.smithmag.net (named for the notoriously general surname “Smith”), writers have a chance to create and submit their own six-word memoirs with the possibility of online and hardcover publication. Smith Magazine’s site contains thousands of six-word memoirs and numerous six-word projects to get involved in. For example, submit your best inspirational political guidance for President-elect Barack Obama to “Six words for America,” swallow a six-word challenge about your personal food life in “A life in bytes” or bring back emo with “Six-Word Memoirs on Love & Heartbreak.” With Smith Magazine’s first major call for submissions in the traditional vein of six-word memoir, the result has created “Not Quite What I Was Planning” and includes authors such as Dave Eggers’ “Fifteen years since last professional haircut” to Nikki Beland’s “Catholic school back fired. Sin is in!”

So, for 2009, instead of creating ordinary lists about what you accomplished in 2008 followed by more lists on what you hope to complete this year, try writing a six-word memoir to commemorate the special occasions, like New Year’s Eve. On www.sixwordmemoirs.com, Emily Gordon writes, “My little red dress; partied out.”


Here are a few samples of my Six-Word Memoir:

• Breathing into me without a touch.

• Born Tuesday, not meek and mild.

• New Years resolutions don’t include you.

• Yes we can! Yes we did!

Check out more of my Six-Word Memoir at Smith Magazine