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Prose Poetry

Updated: Nov 24, 2020

Definition:

  1. An oxymoron or contradiction

  2. Prose = sentences and paragraphs

  3. Poetry = compiled of verses and stanzas

  4. A form of poetry that rebels against the constraints of conventional poetry such as metered lines.

  5. Russell Edson said, “A good prose poem is a statement that seeks sanity whilst its author teeters on the edge of the abyss.”

History:

  1. Originated from haibun, a Japanese form of prose poetry in the 17th Century

  2. Thereafter, they appeared in 19th Century France as an act of rebellion.

  3. It became an alternative to lineate verse by poets

  4. has roots in early translations of the Bible

  5. Popularised by Charles Baudelaire, Arthur Rimbaud, Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs

Prose Poetry is:

  1. a small justified block of text wherein “weird shit happens”

  2. a poem in a box

  3. interior

  4. a paradox

  5. born out of annoyance

  6. a revolt

  7. a nonsense

  8. an opportunity for something different

Prose Poetry is not:

  1. a failed verse poem

  2. lackadaisical

  3. a short-short story

  4. a consolation prize

  5. from a poet who is questioning their genre-orientation

More Guidelines:

In a prose poem:

  1. The writing is continuous and there are no line breaks

  2. Any length, divided into paragraphs.

  3. Rhythmical cadences work well in a prose poem

  4. Internal rhyme, alliteration and repetition can be used

  5. There must be some poetic or stylistic devices

  6. Usually has compressed thought and intensity

  7. Focuses on images

Starting points:

  1. describe something by detailing what is missing from it (such as a house or place)

  2. Think of an elusive or transient memory. Let the grammar of your prose poem show how and why you began thinking about this – stream of consciousness

  3. Observe a room. In five sentences give an inventory of the most striking features of the space.

  4. Free-write and then go back and highlight two or three phrases.

Prompts:

  1. Begin with forever and end with together

  2. A blink. A lifetime.

  3. Teetering on the precipice

  4. You won’t get your wings until your first kill

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