THE ART OF THE MICROESSAY

1. The snow outside brightens the streetlights, yet dampens all the noise. Your first writings back in elementary school were probably short. Just a couple sentences, right? Over the years, you learn how to write longer, how to develop arguments. Flesh out the scene. But then you begin to return to the original form. A pair of lungs learning how to breathe. Contract. Expand. Contract. The end is built into the beginning. 2. If I had time, I would have written you a shorter letter. It’s funny, I’m reminded of Picasso, who started his painting career so young with beautiful portraits. He could have remained a master of realism. Instead, his art transcended. The Blue Period’s melancholy to the Rose Period’s warmth. The African-influenced mask-like faces. Cubism’s fractured forms. The work distilled. Concentrating on intuition rather than strict observation. Reduction until the purest ideas remained. 3. Microessays aren’t really any different than Picasso. It takes a long while to be able to write something of length, with both meat and fat on the bones. Longform is tricky, time-consuming, and there’s research to be done. The microessay, though, takes even more work. You are compacting and distilling. You are finding what is only the essence. This is surgical. 4. The microessay is a contemporary form, but lineage reaches back a millennium. In Japan, essays existed centuries before they developed in Europe. The [*zuihitsu*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuihitsu) means “following the brush” emerged when [Sei Shōnagon wrote *The Pillow Book*](https://poets.org/glossary/zuihitsu), a collection of loose-yet-connected essays and fragments responding to her surroundings. A hybrid form of lists, observations, anecdotes, poetry, reportage, confession. To follow the brush suggests a certain not-knowing, that whatever results will be down to discovery rather than plan. 5. [Modern microessays](https://fiveable.me/key-terms/introduction-creative-writing/micro-essays), 100–800 words, live in the space between poetry and prose, between thought and fragment. Built for our commutes, substantial enough to carry weight. The creation of order depends on disorder. Juxtapositions, contradictions, random materials, pieces of varying lengths. How thinking works. 6. You may mistake the microessay for the LinkedIn broetry. For the multitude of short sentiments flooding the fields and drowning any fertile ground. A common misconception. The difference is comparable to #instapoetry versus the haiku or tanka. The shi, fu, ci, lüshi. The sijo and hyangga. Steep traditions with delicate care and consideration. Each line can take years to get right. 7. Specifics? Three lines with a 5–7–5 syllable pattern, [31 characters in 5–7–5–7–7 rhythm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanes