Hi Flawed Friends!
Thanks for giving it another go today!
I love to read memoir. I can’t get enough of personal essays, travelogues, and stories of epiphany and transformation.
I also love to write personal essays. About ten years ago, I published a memoir that was a collection of essays about being a child and being a parent. I pulled the book after a very unfriendly review from someone I thought was a personal friend.
That experience stalled, but did not kill, my desire to write about my life.
Someday, I will publish another collection of personal essays. But for now, I’m enjoying experimenting with haiku as memoir. Instead of sharing a larger narrative, I’m trying to inhabit my past one moment at a time.
Today’s haiku is one of the results of my experiments.
Here are three of my favorite memoirs from this past year (I read them this year, but they weren’t necessarily published this year.)
Open Road: A Midlife Memoir of Travel Through the National Parks by
—This is a book about facing fears and being with your spouse on a long road trip through many of the most spectacular national parks of the western United States and Canada. Toby also has a great Substack, where she shares more travel adventures.Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton—This is a graphic memoir where Kate shares her story of going to work in Alberta’s oil sands to pay off her art school student loans. It’s an incredible read that deals with tough issues like sexual harassment, loneliness, indigenous rights, and what it means to work for an oil company amid the climate crisis.
The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl—If you can, listen to this on audiobook. Dave Grohl first became famous as the drummer for Nirvana. Grohl tells the story of a life that is inseparable from the music he’s made. He narrates the audiobook in such a way that you feel like he’s telling you stories over drinks like you’re old friends.
Are you up for a challenge? Write a memoir haiku in the comments. Tell us the story of a single moment. See what happens!
Be the weird you want to see in the world!
Cheers,
Jason
Haiku as memoir--what a perfect combination, Jason! Anxiously awaiting more of this.
I’m going to leave myself a note to write this haiku soon. Thanks, Jason!