This week, I am posting at least one American Sentence per day, and a few extras randomly during the week.
What is an “American Sentence”?
The American Sentence is a poetic form that was invented by Allen Ginsburg, who felt that the English language was not well suited to the 5/7/5 format of Haiku. He proposed eliminating the three lines with the strict syllabic formula and keeping the seventeen syllables. An American Sentence can have as many or as few sentences as will fit in those seventeen syllables.
I have tried my hand at it here and there through the years. I enjoy the challenge of stripping a thought or story down to bare, and sometimes lyrical, essentials. This week, as I have given myself the challenge of making one or more per day, I notice some things about how I work to create these little bullet-point-like poems.
I have started each one so far with about 30 to 50 syllables, and then I whittle them down, going through anywhere from 5 to 12 drafts. The refining of these drafts clarifies and brings into focus what I am trying to capture: the final version of the Sentence has, to this point, consistently been more vivid. It’s like panning for gold.
My standout examples so far, I find, are directly experiential, rather than reflective or philosophical. I’m not entirely convinced that this will be true always, but as I continue to work with the form, I am learning more of what’s possible within it. I am finding that simple language seems to shine brighter in these compact poetic bursts.
Because these little poems are coming directly from my experience, they are snapshots of my environment, shutter clicks from my world view. In my hands, they are truly American sentences.
I invite you to give them a try. You can post your American Sentences here in the comments, if you like.
Broadcast From the Brain Radio 
Seventeen syllables contain multitudes, when you come down to it.
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