Joanne,
In a poetry class I attended a few years ago we
gave up trying to define poetry other than that it
is a piece of writing in which the lines end
before they have to.
Though there would be exceptions to this
definition as well. Such as the "prose poem"
I expect a prose poem to be a very short piece of
prose which invites a large amount of interest,
pleasurable re-reading with further surprises. And
there are large prose works that do that as well,
and short ones that don't (or don't seem to - but
with a short piece re-reading is not very
arduous). So this is not a definition.
Apart from the interest within these poems,
often the ones that stick in my mind have a viral
quality which makes the prose somewhat
hallucinatory, and it infects the way I think
about "ordinary" prose. Here's one by Russell
Edson (Verse Vol 13 No 1):
The Baby Pianos
A piano had made a huge manure. Its handler
hoped the lady of the house wouldn't notice.
But the lady of the house said, what is that
huge darkness?
The piano's just had a baby, said the
handler.
Meanwhile the piano had dropped another huge
manure.
What's that? cried the lady of the house,
surely not another baby?
Twins, said the handler.
They look more like cannon balls than baby
pianos, said the lady of the house.
The piano dropped another huge manure.
Triplets, smiled the handler ...
And on the next page in an ad for _The Prose Poem_
(a journal "devoted to that which is neither
poetry nor prose, but both") is this is by Charles
Simic:
The Church of Insomnia
The huge congregation is in the dark. The
altar is a bed with a canopy. The minister reads
by candlelight the works of Jonathan Edwards. If
you listen hard, you'll hear pages being turned,
the ash of his cigarette falling into the abyss.
The cat with the mouse in its mouth is simply
passing through.
Regards
Nicholas Sergeant
----- Original Message -----
From: joannedenton <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2001 1:30 AM
Subject: prose poem
> Dear Andrew, and all,
> Hope this question is not too dumb for the
"room", I have been lurking and
> learning,from all you talented people,but now I
would like to ask a
> question: What qualifies as a "prose" poem? and
what distinguishes it from
> verse? sending my regards, Joanne Denton
> (no chuckles out there hear?)(<:)
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Andrew Burke" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 08, 2001 6:21 PM
> Subject: Re: In my dreams
>
>
> > Nicholas - I really liked your poem - of the
ram and the hook, etc. - The
> > format seemed to lose itself on my machine. Is
it a prose poem? The first
> > par came like that, ten te second was full of
longish lines juxtaposed
> with
> > short (very), and finally a paragraph of left
margin, ragged right. (I
> know
> > justifying doesn't work on email, but the
first par seemed justified
> > enough.)
> >
> > I'd like to keep it and use it in classes if
that's okay with you. That's
> > why I am interested in getting your intended
format strictly correct.
> >
> > Andrew
> >
> > ----------------------------------------
> > Andrew Burke Copywriting
> > [log in to unmask] Creative Writing
> > http://www.bam.com.au/andrew/ Editing
> > ----------------------------------------
>
