Poetry Prompt #26 – Mini-Memoir

Legend has it that when asked to write a story in six words, Ernest Hemingway responded, “For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.” Think about it – what do these six words suggest to you?  A while back, Smith Magazine challenged writers to tell their life stories in exactly six words, and both famous and not-so-famous writers responded. (Click Here to Read New Yorker Article) The idea is inarguably “gimmicky,” but the concept is interesting, and for this prompt we’re going to do something similar. Rather than using six words to tell our life stories, we’re going to use a dozen to create mini-memoir poems (snippets of personal experience). 

Here's your challenge: tell your “story” in exactly twelve words; organize your poem in a way that uses space effectively (like dance or sculpture); pay particular attention to sound (alliteration, assonance), punctuation, imagery, and mood; experiment with interesting syntax and inventive diction. Titles don’t figure in the word count, so use your titles to convey meaning. Make every word count! 

This is an exercise in compression; it’s also an exercise in learning how to use nuance in your poems and how to convey a “story” without telling the reader everything. 

Here are five examples from one of my workshop groups.

(1) HOW THAT DAY

How that day

the wind:

everything

changed –

so unprepared

for his suicide …

(2) WHIMMY

Whimmy, she

said. Whimmy – 

her back 

turned to me

as she left.

(3) AFTER IRAQ

The wages of sin –

Michelangelo’s 

“Last Judgment” –

what that long 

wall means …

(4) JUST THIS

Just this 

before you 

go: 

I did not 

(despite what 

they said).

(5) THE LAST TIME I SAW YOU

This, always, when 

          I remember you –

               that day’s color

                    and your eyes …