What Exactly Is An American Sentence?

We asked you, our wonderful audience, for your versions of the American Sentence. Allen Ginsberg, inventor of the American Sentence, felt that the haiku didn’t work as well in English. Ginsberg decided to remove the line structure of the haiku and create poems which only had one requirement: 17 syllables total. These syllables could be arranged in as many or as few sentences as possible, but they did not have to adhere to any sort of line count, freeing the poem up for the idiosyncrasies of English phonemes. We’ve compiled 15 of our favorite American Sentences and haikus from you!

Don’t worry, they all have enough syllables, we checked!

15. New poem for a new year!

14. Spring is just around the corner…

13. Do pop-up ads count?

12. A love poem to poetry!

11. Very literal. LOVE IT!

10. A very productive American Sentence

9. Spring training!

8. Cool water = cool birds.

7. What a great way to read!

6. You’ve transported me into another world.

5. A Poem about Detroit perhaps?

4. I’m glad I ride a bike!

3. Goodnight, Moon.

2. “Oh, Baby” is right!

1. And the finishing touch…

Special thanks to everyone who submitted! Keep sending us your American Sentences!