Sentences
The American Sentence is a form created by Allen Ginsberg. I’ve decided to write American Sentences as frequently as possible and share them on this blog. To find my American Sentences, just check out my American Sentences category.
What are American Sentences, exactly? If you think of a single sentence of 17 syllables that is based on direct observation and that maximizes what is conveyed in those 17 syllable, you’ll be on the right track. There’s more to it than that, of course, and I am just starting out myself, so I don’t have all the details. So to learn more about American Sentences, why don’t you visit Paul Nelson’s blog, American Sentences.
If you feel so inclined, leave a comment on this page with one of your American Sentences.
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There are so many blocks on the carpet that I refuse to count them.
Partly rotten twelve-foot spruce planks rest angled on the half-built tree house.
Petals on a wet, black bough smeared themselves along the cuff of my pants.
(Palinode ~ nice Pound remix.)
what do you think about me putting together a page @ co-po where we can post links to cool “jump in and join” kinds of projects like this one? for example, for american sentences: it could link to the article/s you’ve mentioned and also to this list of yours and any others who are doing it or start doing it. it’s sort of on the perimeter of collaborative. no collaborative itself.
Polkadotwitch, that sounds great! You are full of the good ideas. I have some other sites/projects I could send you to include. (Or I could add them myself to whatever page you create.)
I’ve actually been toying with starting a project called “Our American Sentences” that is exclusively for American Sentences ~ a place where there would be a separate post each day and people could leave a comment every single day (or whenever they felt so inclined) containing an American Sentence they’ve written.
I envision that project as being totally open: where anyone can leave a sentence. That, in my vision, would be the extent of the project. No list of participants, no posts other than the open call to write a sentence. Maybe just a post title that says “Our American Sentences” and has the date. I think if a lot of people wrote them and posted them on that site, the layering of the sentences would be very very cool. Each day would become a collaborative poem.
I would want to approach Paul Nelson about it ~ not that he own American Sentences, but he has done a lot of work and research about this form, and he’s been writing them since 2001. It might be something he’d like to incorporate on his own site as a collaborative project, but he might not. I actually was expecting to see a place on his site for something along those lines and was surprised there wasn’t a page or section where people could post their own American Sentences.
Am I a loser since I’m blogging on a balmy Saturday night? An American question.
I love these! Your sentences are varied and wonderful, fun and colorful. Great stuff.
Christine, no way! Blogging is the new most-awesome-thing-ever to do on a balmy Saturday night. (I wish I lived somewhere balmy. Sigh. Balmy has been a memory since my move to Bothell, Washington.)
have you given any more thought to contacting paul nelson? if the information on his website is current, he is studying at a university where a woman i “know” teaches writing. (she taught a full weekend of my expressive arts training: poetry and movement).
Polkadotwitch, I talked with Paul, and he says he would support my putting a project like I described together ~ and that he might even participate from time to time. I was thinking we could make it one of Po Co’s public projects.
Knitting lace while talking means either dropping stitches or dropping words.
Melanie, that’s good. I like how the -ing words are repeated and sound like dropped stitches. Or dropped words. Nicely done!
I read these with Ginsberg’s voice and went insane with your words in his ghost.
dogfaceboy, I love Ginsberg’s reading voice. He has that old-style sound of a strong orator, as if his poems were speeches. That makes them sound important and meaningful, like something we should listen to and take heed of. He makes his work resonate through his body and into the hall. No frills, no fuss, just strong, clear, passionate delivery.
I am flattered you read these in his voice, and that you could hear something of him in my words. That makes my day.
Interesting idea… and here’s my American sentence of the day:
On hold: the “next available representative” does not exist.
That is fabulous, Shelley!
My very first AS: “In the lingerie store mirror, a tear meandered in her cleavage.”
“It take ah fool to yoke an ox wit an ass. One will be a carryin’ the load while the other do nothin’ but whine.”
Ah, Their Eyes Were Watching God, right?
Some of these are wonderfully descriptive, others are just downright hilarious (still chortling over the lost scissors).
‘Nov 10th and weaving webs’ is my fav…all of them are superb, thank you for encouraging beginners like me. Thanks.
Love the Sept. 8th one- poignant.
Septemeber 29th- LOL
Octorber 9th- gorgeous and thought provoking.
You introduced me to American Sentences. Thanks for showing me a new poetic form.
How about a collaborate American Sentence?
At http://www.worldclasspoetryblog.com.
Paul Nelson’s been a good friend of mine since 2000…he’s part of the 315 experiment (as am i and as you could be)
one cool thing about the 315 exp is to see what other people wrote on the same day as you in the middle of the night at 315…
An American sentence co-po website kind deal sounds like a blast! as in what sentence did people write on that day that i wrote etc?