In Cosmopolitan Greetings, his 1994 book, he published two and a half pages of these nuggets, some of which had scene-setting preambles. For example:
Four skinheads stand in the streetlight rain chatting under an umbrella.
Rainy night on Union square, full moon. Want more poems? Wait till
I'm dead.
AmericanSentences.com is a site to present and foster this poetic form of haiku-length poems that Allen suggested be limited to 17 syllables, like haiku in Japanese and like the Heart Sutra in Buddhism.
It's not really a writing prompt, but feel free to post your efforts in the comments below.
The website is done by Paul Everett Nelson. He is self-descibed as a poet, father, teacher and broadcaster, and founder of the non-profit Global Voices Radio and co-founder of the Northwest SPokenword LAB (SPLAB!).
Paul says:
I have written one of these sentences every day since January 1, 2001. I find it
an amazing way to sharpen my perception and learn how to eliminate unnecessary
syllables. It aids in a sort of pre-editing that supports my spontaneous writing
practice.
moss covered stone fence surrounds the stagnent lily pond, september fog
ReplyDeleteNever impromptu
ReplyDeletein pure Japanese garden:
now is always planned.
EAC
Prairie highway: bleached abandoned houses, roofs caved in, shutters askew.
ReplyDeleteOutside the classroom door, students mill and swirl, bodies pressed in passing.
Rainy morning: orange flower petals strewn across the glistening bricks.
Not an empty blue sky, unless you continue to ignore the moon.
ReplyDeleteStone cellar protects cold roots from coaxing warmth - no seduction, no bloom.
Turning prayer wheel, screech across frozen pond shocks birds from meditation.