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Monday, November 19, 2007

My British American Sentences

At read.write.poem this week we were invited to write American sentences, a poetic form of seventeen syllables invented by Allen Ginsberg. I have been writing one a day based on my trip to Britain in September, hence the title of the post.

For an extra, check out yesterday's post which is my favourite of those I have written so far, but doesn't have anything to do with the trip.

Hindu lady checks passports; Spaniard at the Hertz counter - welcome to Britain.

At Stonehenge we maintain a respectful distance, watched over by crows.

In Bath we read curses offered to Sulis two thousand years before.

Turtle-shaped soup tureen gleaming copper; on the wall a row of small skulls

The only red squirrels we see are those silhouetted on road signs.

In a box at the archives I find my greatgrandfather, young again.




(My greatgrandfather, found at Stirling Archives)

17 comments:

Rethabile said...

They're great, especially the Stonehenge one and the grandpa one.

Jo said...

They are great......love that you found a photograph of your grandfather. He looks so distinguished, what was he?

Anonymous said...

Loved that picture of Grandpa!

I am learning so much about this poetry form. It has great potential!

Anonymous said...

Great sentences, and photo. You could do a whole photo essay/book about your trip with these sentences. :)

Crafty Green Poet said...

excellent collage of sentences, sorry you didn't get to see red squirrels at all. There are still some in Scotland and Lancashire...

I like the photo of your grandad

Deb said...

I love the motif and what you've done. "Crows watch over" is perfect in that sentance.

Anonymous said...

These are terrific, both individually and as a group - the best I've seen in response to the ReadWritePoem prompt so far.

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you decided to give writing these a go, despite their name.

This is not related to the poems, but I love that you found that photo of your great grandfather. It looks like a tintype. Is it?

Anonymous said...

loved the way you transformed your trip to american sentence(s). Thank you.

Linda Jacobs said...

a couple of these put me right back in England. Thanks for the memory! ~Linda

Carolee said...

this is a great idea for a travel journal. i love that you're taking memories of your trip and compressing them into these sentences ... i hope i can remember this on my next trip (which are very brief and tame; nothing lengthy or international) and write some while i'm on the trip.

but i may go back to my notes from my trip to salem, massachusetts, this summer -- i hadn't been able to figure out how to capture the visit.

writerwoman said...

The last one is fantastic. I found it the most relatable of your sentences, but the one about the turtle shaped bowl was my favorite. That one took me right to that place and time.

Pauline said...

marvelous every one - my favorite is finding grandfather

Anonymous said...

Great way to share your travels. And that picture of your grandfather - what a find!

Kay Cooke said...

That is actually a very effective way to label your memories! Great stuff.

Anonymous said...

these travelling AS are a great idea. Thank you for sharing!

paris parfait said...

These are fantastic! And isn't the immigration one absolutely true - you'll notice it even more in London.