Friday, July 13, 2018

I Wish I'd Written This



One Sentence Poems revisited

White Flowers

Some
might miss
that
split second


when
your eyes
drop
their blinds


and
your lips
begin
to open


but
for me,
as
the clouds


decide
to rest
and
every car


stops
for gas,
it’s
like noticing


that
first whiff

of
summer air


as
it pauses
beneath
my skin.


Austin Davis is a widely published poet and his first full-length collection, Cloudy Days, Still Nights, is being released by Moran Press this spring.



Where most are ...

Where most are
too shy or numb to
investigate,
you lodge,
mossy and shadow,
awaiting dictation.


Karen Stanislaw, fighting for her right to poet, is in current wrestle with - relatives and muddier Saturnian forces - the idea that she's not honored "enough" survival and security concerns.


Visitation

My brother sits across from me
in the prison visiting room,
his jumpsuit the color
of coffee-stained teeth, and says,
“Keep the letters coming.
Whenever I read them, I’m free.”


Scott Hughes typically writes fiction much longer than one sentence. https://www.writescott.com/


The Book of Hours

The sun sets on enhanced interrogation,
even as it rose, exponentially, on drone strikes,
like the sum of collateral damage
became a euphemism, beyond our peripheral
vision, & we held the shining black eye
of history in our mouth, as if
we imagined God in our every breath, as if we
are, all of us, alone in the complicity of others.


henry 7.reneau, jr. writes words in conflagration to wake the world ablaze.



Job

I carry my burdens,
sing my songs,
hold goodness within,
not much different, it seems,
than a common wooden chair,
the bells of a working clock,
an ordinary vessel of clay.


Larry Schug says, "I could be considered old, though I am terminally immature."


Wisp

Candle
flame flickers
and quickly you
turn from flesh to
silhouette and weave
through the curtains then
exit the open window and float
above the storm-swept garden where
the frogs that survived the devastation insist
to stay and croak aloud undying love to one another.


Karlo Sevilla writes from Quezon City, Philippines, and suffers from a lagging inertia of consciousness.


One Cannot Use

One cannot use
a pen and a pistol
at the same time,
and that is all
I have to say on
the subject of
poetry as therapy.


J. R. Solonche has been publishing in magazines, journals, and anthologies since the early '70s and is author of six collections of poetry.



Wind Song 

There’s so much
going on here
it's always worth
getting out of the car,
and if you listen
really quietly,
you can hear
the stream flowing
and these people
who survived
by eating weeds
and even talk
proudly about it.


Howie Good is on the pavement, thinking about the government.


Guthertz

I wish I’d met him after
I stopped hating myself,
for he was kinder than I was,
more easily pleased, and unlike me,
comfortable seeming feminine,
which made him more masculine
as he slowly bit and sucked my lips
until they stung slightly,
vibrating, his blunt hands warm
and strong as we embraced
by a lawn sprinkler,
ratty jeans sodden,
heard atonal wind chimes,
our breath catching,
and a breeze rustling
through the eucalyptus.


Hannah Bleier is a special education teacher living in Brooklyn.


Ballast

I ride the air balloon
of your love, soaring

higher and higher as
I drop the ballast overboard:

my ego, that anvil,
that anchor made of lead.

Steve Klepetar knows it's the month before the month of May, and spring comes slowly up this way.



One Sentence Poems is a poetry site I subscribe to by email. I have shared pieces from it before, and thought it was time for some more.

They tend to be short. Not that they have to be, but it must be harder to sustain a very long sentence. The rules say:

  • It must truly be a sentence. 
  • Start with an uppercase letter. 
  • End with a terminal punctuation mark. But don’t die. 
  • Semicolons are discouraged, especially when used to merge what should be multiple sentences into one long sentence. 
  • Format: There must be at least one line break. Some indents ok, but we can’t handle highly scattered formats. (We prefer left-justified.) 
  • The sentence must be grammatically correct (subject + verb), with generally conventional punctuation. 

I've selected from recent posts a few I particularly like, for whatever reason – whether because they are beautiful or interesting (some are downright disturbing!); whether because of content or form. There were many more worth sharing; I selected for variety. 

Every time I read one, I think, 'I must try a one sentence poem!' (and also when I sometimes find one amongst the poems shared in our Poets United community). But then I forget. One day....

Material shared in 'I Wish I'd Written This' is presented for study and review. Poems, photos and other writings remain the property of the copyright owners, usually their authors.


22 comments:

  1. Rosemary, these are wonderful. I especially love the first two. As i read, i was thinking the same thing. "I must try some." Very cool feature.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So glad you enjoyed it, and even more so if you feel inspired.

      Delete
  2. I agree with Sherry - great interview

    ReplyDelete
  3. Interesting and inspirational. I've not come across this poetry site before; thank you for sharing these, Rosemary.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm sure you'd enjoy all the poems at that site, Kim.

      Delete
  4. I enjoyed the reading, and now I'll have to try this form intentionally. My favorites are "Job" and "One Cannot Use."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 'One Cannot Use' reminds me of all the times people have said, on hearing I wrote poetry, 'What wonderful therapy that must be!' To which I feel like responding, 'It's not therapy, it's ART!' – except I doubt they'd understand anyway. I think J. R. Solonche might have experienced similar irritation ... and also it's a VERY good point about not being able to hold a pen and a gun at the same time.

      Delete
  5. these are fascinating, and offer some definite consideration (for me personally, regarding "what makes a poem a poem" [being a non-poet]) and simply because in some ways, this form can add such a dramatic impact; I have to say, intriguing and I really love the selection you've offered here Rosemary ~ thank you :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You a non-poet? Gee, you sure had me fooled! LOL. 'What makes a poem a poem?' is an interesting question. Possibly unanswerabIe, at least definitively, but 'd love to explore it in a Moonlight Musing some time soon.

      Delete
    2. LOL - well thank you ~ but honestly, a wordwitch? a wordsmith? perhaps ... poetry was never my "chosen" form - short stories, stories, (way back in the day) and now, what we call "flash" etc. So poems? sure, I wrote them, but it wasn't my "grand naming" - I preferred 'writer' .... and yes, what does make a poem a poem? I think you're quite correct; there probably is no one answer or way to even tap into the wealth of potential of "what makes a poem a poem" ... happy moonlight musings ... (at least, it offers some room to think by silver light and just amuse oneself, perhaps even glisten a few "truths" by the silver drops, which isn't a bad way to end a day) ~ cheers Rosemary :)

      Delete
    3. Can we agree that 'poet' is one of the things you are and may call yourself? (One aspect of the writer that you are.) It seems to me you are choosing to write poems now, from time to time.

      Ah well, for myself poetry was always my chosen form, from earliest childhood, when it struck me that it was the most beautiful thing a human being could create. It surprises me when certain friends who are wonderful poets tell me their (also wonderful) fiction is their first love. (But then, I am no good at writing it – except occasionally in verse – so it's just as well don't want to.)

      Delete
  6. I think, like Haiku, one sentence poem is also not easy to write. All the poems shared here look so effortlessly written. True gems! Wow! Thanks for the share Rosemary.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I'm sure they were not really effortless – but that's art, isn't it?

      Delete
  7. These are just wonderful. I love the sensuality of the first one - "White Flowers" and love the presentation of "Wisp" and really all of them! An inspiring post! Gotta try one of these.

    ReplyDelete
  8. These I think are very hard to write. Nice collection

    much love...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes. I have now, finally, had a try, and found it challenging.

      Delete
  9. i am not a subscriber to this site, but i am a regular reader of it. they do have some very amazing poetry, and it is hard to realize that it is only a sentence, for some of the works.
    Some of my more recent posts in my blog are single sentences, though i don't start with an uppercase letter (that rules them out)
    but i do end them with a period. :)

    ReplyDelete

This community is not meant to be used in a negative manner. We ask that you be respectful of all the people on this site as each individual writer is entitled to their own opinion, style, and path to creativity.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Blog Archive

Followers