Wednesday, November 24, 2010

American Sentence

Author Alan Ginsberg created his own version of 17-character Japanese haiku in his book, Cosmopolitan Greetings, calling the results "American Sentences."  One sentence, 17 syllables, end of story. It's easy to get hooked. Here's one of my own, written on a night when sleep would not come.




Dream


Lost in sleep, the body withdraws and slips into that ancient dreamtime.


Posted for One Shot Wednesday
photo credit: www.arcanefractals.com

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been there! Neatly encapsulated, Pauline.

Anonymous said...

I've been there! Neatly encapsulated, Pauline.

Brian Miller said...

nice....really cool form...may have to try it...and sweet dreams...smiles.

Bubba said...

"American sentences" eh? Now I know what to call those non-traditional haiku of mine!

(I guess you can count me as 'hooked" too!)

Nice One Shot, Pauline!

Claudia said...

...so instead of sheep, you counted syllables..smiles
i like...ancient dreamtimes...

Desert Rose said...

what i like about one shot is that it makes us read wonderful poets with creative ideas..i like that one very much..:)

Pauline said...

Thanks, Dick - I have written several more such sentences. It's addictive!

Give it a try, Bri.

Eric - you would excel at this!

I did indeed, Claudia. It didn't help, though...

Rose - thank you! And thanks for coming to read and comment.

Hilary said...

I really do like this concept but fear I could become addicted.

Oops.. and so it begins. ;)

Helena Malheur said...

Interesting style! Very neat and a clever use of language “ancient dreamtime” - love that!

One Stop - The Place For Poets, Writers and Artists said...

beautiful words..so tranquil...thanks..and thanks also for the introduction..well though out cheers pete

herhimnbryn said...

Ooh, like this, I will have to try. Hope you finally got some sleep.

Anonymous said...

Interesting to think of dreams as ancient. In my novel, I used dreams to connect the characters to their ancient lives, but I was still stopped and entranced by your line! Yes. Dreamtime connects to the ancient in us. Huh.

My One Stop Wed offering: http://shawnbird.com/2010/11/24/trus/

Shashidhar Sharma said...

Its perfect one Haiku.. I liked it very much.. thanks for sharing..


ॐ नमः शिवाय
Om Namah Shivaya
Twitter: @VerseEveryDay
Blog: http://shadowdancingwithmind.blogspot.com

Peter Bryenton said...

American sentences are written in the English language too.

Marion said...

I can understand why sleep didn't come when such awesome sentences keep coming to you! Wish I could do this when I'm sleepless! I loved "that ancient dreamtime." Really resonated with me!

Meggie said...

Beauty, always.

Laura said...

I love this idea...and your one line haiku/poem/thought is beautiful as is the image...something new for me to play with. Thank you for teaching m something new today!