[After you read this post, move on to my revised definition of the
SOUTHERN SENTENCE POEM
at
https://griffinpoetry.com/2012/11/25/when-the-train-whistle-blows/
And send me your offerings at our Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/SouthernSentencePoem?ref=hl ]
Last month after a poetry workshop we all went out for lunch. Someone had been reading a book of Buson and Issa, and we got to complaining about how hard it is to transmigrate haiku from Japanese to English. Syllable counting aside, Japanese haiku has so many formalities that just don’t translate. Each word is drenched in a thousand years of cultural nuance; lotus, frog, mountain, they all have layers of meaning very difficult for an outsider to grok. Why do we even try to write haiku ourselves?
At some point we came up with the idea – note here that no alcohol was involved in these discussions – that we Southern poets need a poetic form we can call our own. I remember us laughing about what we might call such a thing; the term “Bubba” seems to have come up a few times, with various prefixes and suffixes. At the end of the day, though, we hadn’t really developed anything substantial.
. . . . .
I’ve been thinking about that conversation ever since, and I’m now ready to unleash upon the literary world a new poetic form: the Southern Sentence Poem. Besides consisting of a single sentence (which actually ain’t too Southern, knowing how we like to tell long-winded stories), each Southern Sentence must include all three of the following:
1 – Place.
A word or phrase has to place the poem in the American South. It can be the name of a town, a geographic feature, a mention of some typical flora or fauna, even an ACC university.
2 – Past.
We Southerners make fretful Buddhists – we just can’t let go of the past. The poem can be “in the moment” but it requires a reference to the past: kinfolk, a historical event, a personal experience (inevitably with a bad outcome, of course, but lesson learned).
3 – Culture.
Let the New Englanders and the Californians and the Canadians come up with their own poetic form – this here poem is about the South! The reference to Southern culture can be food, customs, language/slang, clothing, agriculture or business . . . even anthropologists have a trouble defining the word “culture.”
And to my mind a really good Southern Sentence would be seasoned with a drop of bittersweet. Aren’t some of our great themes sin and redemption, hurt and healing, always at least a little hopefulness? And it is ever appropriate to inject a little humor. Just one additional rule: no cussed semicolons. I love semicolons, but they are just too damn Yankee.
. . . . .
Help me out. Send me some Southern Sentence Poems. If I get a whole passle of them I might start a whole new blog, or at least give them their own page. Any comments and enlargements on my three rules? Make the form your own.
AND . . . can anyone think of a better name than Southern Sentence Poem?
Finally, here are a couple of examples (it’s only a coincidence that each is 3 lines; that’s not one of the rules):
. . . . .
Nana said she despised those “jawflies,”
cicadas that filled the oaks around her house,
but every August I think of her.
. . . . .
In Nana’s preserves each fig
was suspended in gold – the summer sunset
on Bogue Sound.
. . . . .
. . . . .
This could be fun, Bill! Send your suggestion on to some other writers. 🙂 (You forgot that each poem MUST incorporate y’all — used appropriately in the plural and with the proper apostrophe placement.) Rebecca
LikeLike
Thanks, Rebecca. I hope to see your first Southern Sentence soon!
LikeLike
Whoops — I meant “*I AM SENDING* your suggestion on . . . “
LikeLike
FABULOUS idea! I am all jazzed up about the possibilities. Would it be alright for me to share the link to this post on Facebook? WHat a wonderfully inspiring way to start my Sunday! Thanks so much, Bill. As always, YOU ROCK!
LikeLike
I like the idea–and I’ll let you know if I actually get a poem out of it.
LikeLike
I know Joe Biden is not a born Southerner, but he had a good one last week: “The Republicans are gonna put y’all in chains.” Momma Dem
LikeLike
Nobody has taken up the challenge yet. Here you go –
I stand on Polk Street,
looking East over Oakwood cemetery,
and watch late afternoon sunlight
sepia the Confederate headstones.
LikeLike
Beautiful. Is that the Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh?
LikeLike
Yes Sir. That’s the one. Glad you like it, and surprised you haven’t had more poets accept the challenge. I think it’s a very viable form. Of course, might grow (like mustard seeds) into longer poems. Arthur
LikeLike
Bill, Here’s what I came up with and wrote this week for your Southern Sentence Poems. What fun.
Diana Pinckney
THE GARDEN PARTY
Aunt Blanche’s yard dripped pink
punch and azaleas, offering shrimp
sandwiches, ham biscuits, cucumber
rounds and cheese wafers so yummy,
yet not a crust in sight on the scalloped
linen, daffodils and petit fours abundant
for family and friends so chummy,
invited to honor and bless the newly
engaged couple, the bride
and groom dreamy as budding
dogwoods with no one batting
an eye that the hostess batted hers
from her second story bedroom
window, having sampled more
than her share of the punch,
forcing Uncle Edward to take charge,
his large hand now patting the key
in his seersucker jacket while
Aunt Blanche, bejeweled in her silks,
nodded and waved, greeting and calling
down to all, Have a good time, ya’ll,
then dipped as she sipped
more of her own pink sweetener.
LikeLike
Diana – Wonderful sentence poem. Thanks!
Looks like we are the only two practioners of the Southern Sentence Poem, and already we have branched into two schools – the Sou-Ku (the South’s answer to haiku) and the looong sentence poem. No doubt graduate students in the future will study this moment avidly. Arthur
LikeLike
[…] who we are. I’m pondering again the form an essentially Southern poem might take. Remember in August I suggested such a poem must include Place, Past, and Culture. Our identity is complex, but a […]
LikeLike
how do I enter a one sentence poem? aoj1022@bellsouth.net, thanks, ya’ll
LikeLike
Thanks for the interest, Alice! You can enter it as a comment, but I’ll also send you an email with instructions. I’m posting them on our Facebook page from time to time and will eventually do a blog series. B
LikeLike
thanks for sending an email with instructions to aoj1022@bellsouth.net
LikeLike
I’ve got my southern sentence ready to go, but alas, how do I find you? pls send an email address or method to submit poem to aoj1022@bellsouth.net thanks, alice
LikeLike
The line at Stamey’s was so long that we
began to get a little antsy, scared
we might not get a seat, much less our fill,
before we had to cross the street back to
the Coliseum for the evening games,
but we had not been here since we were kids
and Dad brought us, back in those dark days when
the Deacons played their home games over here
in doggone Greensboro, and we believed –
had heard, at any rate – the barbecue
was worth the wait, and missing the opening tip.
LikeLike
Oh yeah, Stamey’s can be worth the wait! Thanks for the great memories.
LikeLike
Even during the ACC Tournament.
Do you mind if I re-post this on my blog, Dixie Babble?
LikeLike
Great! Spread the joy, y’all. One little declaration — I decided the SOUTHERN SENTENCE POEM must be seven lines. See my rationale, seven generations & seven waters & seven sins & virtues — at https://griffinpoetry.com/2012/11/25/when-the-train-whistle-blows/ . THANKS! BG
LikeLike
[…] can learn more, and read some Southern Sentence Poems, at Bill’s blog or on the Southern Sentence Poem Facebook […]
LikeLike
my take-up dog peers through
two-colored eyes,
one ice-blue, one soft-brown,
intent on reading my next move
or camouflaging her own.
LikeLike
Every summer Mama Coats made Papaw take everything left over at the bottom of her freezer out to the Zip City dump before she started filling it up again because even though she felt guilty throwing away food when kids are starving in China, she was more afraid that if she gave away the leftovers somebody might get sick and sue her.
LikeLike
would like to enter ssp, give directives please and what about this for a genre title “How you Do run on.” aoj1022@bellsouth.net
LikeLike