6 or 7 or 17-Word Memoir

You may have heard of the 6-Word Memoir--from the book bearing the same name, the YouTube marketing video, the Page-A-Day calendar, the t-shirts.

Ernest Hemingway, known for his terse style, mastered the art:  "For sale:  Baby shoes, never worn."

Powerful.  Leaves us wondering, doesn't it?  

Writing a 6-word memoir serves as an effective exercise in the budding writer's attempts to practice the "economy of language," i.e. the discipline of distilling language to the pure essence of meaning, through the elimination of unnecessary modifiers, prepositional phrases, determiners in giving voice to  our intention.  

I always like to start my Writer's Workshops with this exercise.  

Now I'm going to give you a tad more freedom to choose from 6, 7, or 17-words in writing your Memoir describing the phase of life in which you find yourself.

       "Sandwich generation?  Tired of being ham."

Or you can narrow your focus by viewing your life through the lens of this day, the last day of September 2012.

Or make it thematic--write about Sunday dinners or siblings or leaves, while trying to throw in a twist, like Hemingway's.  Leave the reader wondering.  

"Grandma passed.  Sunday dinner now MacDonalds."  

Now it's your turn, and don't forget...I would love to see your response.  :)

Beginnings

Due to tuggings on my heart (and recent reader feedback), I feel led to take on a more inspirational and instructive role with this blog.  I have always been and will forever be a teacher of writing--I feel one of the reasons I have been put on this planet is to serve as a guide on the side, helping budding writers, young or seasoned, discover their "author within."

So I invite you, dear reader, to dust off your journal, nestle into a favorite spot, and join me on the pathway to discovering the authentic voice which lies within each of us.
It doesn't matter your age.
It doesn't matter your gender or your ethnicity or your creed.
It doesn't matter your blood type or your birthplace. 
It doesn't matter your level of education or the size of your vocabulary or even your knowledge of grammar!
Just take out a writing utensil and writing surface, whatever they may be--
Lipstick on mirror,
Chalk on driveway,
Finger on dirty back window of your SUV,
Bic pen and restaurant napkin,
No. 2 pencil and composition notebook.
Just do it.
Just write.
Don't worry about punctuation or spelling or grammar of any sort.
This is first draft writing only.  Later, you may choose to make it pretty, but for right now, just write.
15 minutes.
The topic is "Beginnings..."
I invite you to share your writing, if you feel like it, as a "Comment" to this post or you can message me on Facebook.

Wired to Distraction

[A note to the reader:  The sing-song rhythm and rhyme pattern 

of this verse, written in a loose iambic pentameter, seems most 

suited to my humorous observations of life in the 21st century.  

The longer pentameter, as opposed to the simpler trimeter, takes 

thinking deeper and thus, makes the humor a tad subtler.]

Drivers on their cell phones are texting while they swerve.

Hiphopping to his mP3, Jay Walker’s got his nerve.

My students tend to wait until the night of the full moon

to start their projects due next day—are conferences soon? 

Primetime TV line-up keeps them from assignments in their planner.

Shanay tried saying her essay got eaten by a spammer.

When Sue’s Calc teacher calls on her to give a final answer,

she offers an excuse about her grandma having cancer

as the reason for her faux pax in misunderstanding the equation.

Maybe what she thinks she needs is some Starbucks libation.

In her mind, the caffeine might jolt and jumpstart her success

And lessen consequences of her Mom and Dad’s distress

because her grades may indicate that she seems kinda dumb,

but in reality, dear Folks, she's contracted iPhone thumb.

© 2012, Katherine L. Szerdy

Japanese Tankas under an Afghani Moon

Tanka poems are a form of Japanese poetry, similar to haiku.  The originators of the form wrote elegant haiku, tanka and renga poems on the subject of nature.  These, however, have almost an Irish limerick spin with a Japanese accent--LOL!

Haiku has 3 lines--1st line (5 syllables), 2nd line (7 syllables), 3rd line (5 syllables)

Add two more lines of 7 syllables each (those two lines are called "ageku") and you have a tanka.  Pair two tanka poems together and you have a renga.  

Now try writing a few of your own--on any topic you choose.  After awhile you will start thinking in 5 and 7-syllable thought-bytes!  (For inspiration, try googling Tanka or Renga poems).

I jotted these down last year (2011) while two of my three children were deployed to Afghanistan. 

The first two are based on my daughter's experiences, and the last, from my heart.

"Sunni Tali-boy"

"Choco chocolate!"

Soldier's pockets are empty.
Naughty boy throws rocks.
He has such excellent aim--
Soldier had to quickly duck.

"April in Afghanistan"

Allergies kicked up.
No flowers, no trees blooming.
That's Afghanistan
Ahhh Ahhh Afghanistan Ahhh
Choo Afghanistan Bless you.

 I wrote the following very early this AM --

Up at two thirty
God wakes me: "Come on, let's pray
for KK today."
Just thought I'd let you know that
You're embraced in mother's prayers--

Held within her heart
That's what Moms are for, you know.
Praying in the dark
Imagining her soldier
in Jesus' arms, safe, warm, loved.

Lesson Plan on writing Renga poems for Grades 4-12:  Have your students work in groups of 4.  Each student writes a Haiku on any topic they choose or which you assign.  Once finished, students pass their poems clockwise to the next student who adds an Ageku (see notes above) following the theme of the originator.  When finished, they pass their papers again clockwise and next add another haiku, again following the theme of that poem.  One more pass, for the final ageku to be added by the 4th student.  Then the poem goes back to the originator.  Each student has a completed Renga poem.  The originator may now check for correct syllabication and consistency of theme.

Evaluation:  Consistency of theme, accurate syllabication.  With intermediate grades, tying this language arts lesson into a science lab  or social studies lesson can be a wonderful alternative assessment by requiring that students include a certain number of facts learned in the poem.  In higher grades, the assignment can be made more sophisticated by requiring students to tighten their poetic voice by avoiding words such as linking verbs and indefinite pronouns.  

***This lesson was highly successful for me--from 4th grade to middle school gifted to high school seniors.

Copyright 2011 Katherine Harris Szerdy

The Other Danger of Text Messaging

I sincerely apologize from the bottom of my heart

For allowing myself to get caught up in this miasma of negativity,

an environment nurtured by a medium of cowards

which robs interlocutors of the beauty of discourse 

the old-fashioned way, the way God intended--

face to face, human voice to human voice.

It will not happen again.

The devil is in the medium [of text messaging]

where even prepositions seem to cast aspersions

and modifiers are misinterpreted and

the exclamation mark points the finger of executioner

and repeat exclamation points become

in-your-face, boundary invasion,

where the in-the-heat-of-the-moment

instantaneous reaction to meaningless text whining

breaks down communication

and strikes pain into the heart of the recipient.

I hereby declare my independence from it.