Wednesday, March 09, 2011

My friend B is composing some wonderful "braiku" on his new site. Haiku and their US cousins, American Sentences, help to sharpen perception and force one to eliminate unnecessary syllables.


American sentences are haiku-length poems that US author Allen Ginsberg suggested be limited to 17 syllables, like haiku in Japanese. While Japanese haiku typically contains a seasonal reference, and a cutting word (a word that briefly cuts the stream of thought,  or one that ends the verse with a heightened sense of closure), English haiku and American sentences often deal with any subject matter and do not always contain a cutting word. My American Sentences often contain references to nature as that is one of my favorite subjects.




 Spring comes in increments just big enough to see with the naked eye.




Spring makes its own time.
It weaves the dark of winter
into light. Enough.

16 comments:

Judith said...

The "Spring" sentence is sharp on target --- Like it a lot, and am, oh so ready!

Tabor said...

Good job and an interesting exercise.

Brian Miller said...

nice...love your sentences...just wish it did not take its time! smiles.

Hilary said...

Oh nice. and is that crocus in bloom? Sigh!

molly said...

Oh I love those little blue increments.....Reminds me of springtime in Belgium and Le foret bleu!

steven said...

so that's so entirely cool!!! thanks for this pauline. steven

Barbara said...

Sometimes less is more. That's the way I have always viewed haiku. And now I have some new forms of the same thing.

Pauline said...

Judith - American Sentences are great fun. Try them, you'll like them ;)

Tabor - anything that challenges is good fun :)

Brian - I like to savor the anticipation!

Hilary - alas, those are last spring's bluebells. We still have a foot or more of snow on the ground.

Molly - the increments do come in colors - I may have to mull that over

Steven - playing with words is good fun, yes?

barbara - the reader's Digest Condensed version lol

Ruth said...

This is great. I really like the American sentence. It reminds me of listening to Jack Kerouac recite haiku, which were not strict in the formal sense . . . or any other sense for that matter.

Your spring haiku, and your American sentence, are both just wonderful. Both "enough," just right, and very satisfying in their tightness.

How interesting that I, too, had posted a haiku. :-)

Peter Bryenton said...

Thank you P. for linking to my Braiku web site of English Haiku.

Laura said...

beautiful words and images...inspirational in any format!

Pauline said...

Ruth - your haiku was splendid!

B - my pleasure:)

LauraX - thank you :)

Marion said...

"It weaves the dark of winter
into light."...I love this sentence. It feels so good!!

Anne said...

Wind and rain while I wait for bright birds and sweet flower scents. Let spring come.

That was fun. Thanks for teaching me about this, Pauline

Pauline said...

marion - now with the time change it's light till early evening!

Anne - thanks for your great American Sentence(s)!

Unknown said...

I like the image of weaving...