National Poetry Month: April 15, 2020 — Busy Bees
Lupine in bloom with bee hives above the Clos des Amis Estate vineyard on South Mountain, Santa Paula.
Busy bees buzz oblivious to our coronavirus concerns.
Oblivious to buzz, Cisco gets bee stuck on his snout; I flick off.
I am fortunate that vineyard work is considered essential, and that there are vineyards just a few miles from my home that need me to help prune and thin the vines inspiring today’s American Sentences. I write monthly about what I do and learn over on Wine Predator, and two days of American Sentences this April have also been inspired by my vineyard and cellar work here and here. Read more on Wine Predator about Clos des Amis, the winery where I have been working and learning.
American Beat Poet Alan Ginsberg came up with the idea of American Sentences: he says that an American sentence is like a haiku in that it has 17 syllables but it’s not three lines in a stanza but one line. As a haiku seeks to conveys an image that generates emotion and conveys a moment in time, the best Sentences do more than just offer a sentence in 17 syllables. I learned about American Sentences from Paul E. Nelson who I met at the Taos Poetry Circus in 2000; my friend who turned me on to the Baudelaire quote above I also met at Taos. According to Paul, the key to writing a good American Sentence comes from Ginsberg’s notion that poets are people who notice what they notice. He has been writing one a day since January 1, 2001. Learn more about American Sentences and how to write good ones from Paul here.
Cisco the Wonder Dog rests in the shade of a tangerine tree after doing battle with a bee. The grenache vines pictured have been chomped on by deer.
art predator 