Beat poet Allen Ginsburg proposed a 17-syllable poem without line length requirements as a more appropriate version of the haiku for English writers. I decided to try my hand at these in response to a prompt, creating a poem comprised of several American sentences, along with a play on words for the title. In light of current events, the sharing is timely.
Your feedback is welcome, as this is a very different type of piece for me to write. Much of my work focuses on personal interactions between humans, with more artistic language and thematic layers. “American Sentence” is stark and straightforward. What do you think?
___
American Sentence
You are blessed here
whether you know it or not:
American health care.
Poverty an opportunity
to overcome
the devil’s curse,
our health care
innovative and complex.
It can’t be for everyone.
Think of the studies.
The new and expensive drugs.
You should be grateful.
Barriers to care:
a made-up controversy.
The ER says yes.
Bankruptcy the worst case.
A payment plan will fix this.
Think of your pride.
Relationship status:
It’s complicated.
Think of others for once.
You are blessed here
whether you know it or not,
and you should be grateful.
___
Copyright 2017 Mindy Goorchenko All rights reserved
Mindy Goorchenko 