Thursday, March 4, 2010

I Can't Keep My Own Secrets: Six-Word Memoirs by Teens Famous & Obscure

Once upon a time I saw this title in my friend's Goodreads. Once upon a time I asked her if she liked it. Once upon a time she told me that she did. She also told me that she loves the thoughtfulness/challenge of six-words, and that some of the teen ones were so well done that she was stopped in her reading, thinking about the girl/boy who had written them. I have since read the book myself, and was likewise stopped. What is more, I now find myself thinking about my own life in six-word phrases.

A sample of others:
I'm still scared of a B-plus.
*I just want to feel infinite.
I only tell truth in journals.
Don't believe in love. Only science.
Fears: jellyfish, cocaine, stray hairs, heartbreak.
Can't stop taking pictures of myself.
I will be that cat lady.
My art was better than me.
I run on the rainy days.
I'm secretly much older than 15.
If not through whispers, in texts.
I drank sweet tea and cried.
Always forgetting to bring an umbrella.
*Childhood fantasy: living in a library.
My heart belongs to New York.
I traded my brick for straw.
I think in full, correct sentences.
Holden caught me in the rye.
Afraid I'm crazy, Bell Jar style.
*I want to launch a filibuster.
A sample of my own:
I am happiest on my bike.
I am just like my mother.
I buy plane tickets when sad.
Kierkegaard. Levinas. Nietzsche. Dostoevsky. Tolstoy. Saint-Exupery.
Student of philosophy. Librarian in training.
I am more than six words.

What would your memoirs be?

*For the record, I also want to feel infinite, dreamt of living in a library, and would like to launch a filibuster.

4 comments:

Britt said...

I really like all of your six-word memoirs - you're going to be the best and nicest librarian ever!

Sam said...

"I even cough like my father"

or

"I'm doing better than usual, actually."

Unknown said...

Sam, I don't think you cough like your father.

lia said...

i love this. i am going to try this.