They do not exist.
I'm sorry to all the 'prose poets' out there, but you're just shams.
Prose and poetry are opposites, which is why they're been seperated into their own categories for centuries.
Prose is a solid chunk of text, seperated into sentences and paragraphs. It's what the majority of writing is considered.
Poems have line breaks, stanzas, they are 'broken prose.' Poetry includes sonnets, haikus, and song lyrics.
The problem with Prose Poets is that they've cleverly noticed that a singular paragraph of writing isn't enough to be published, and instead of expanding on it or breaking it down and creating a real poem from it, they decide to be 'abstract' and 'radical' by calling it a prose poem.
I say no. That's just a load a crap.
There may be such a thing as prose with lyrical quality, rhyme, meter, etc (I know, I've done it) but that is not a poem. Poems, by definition, have stanza and line breaks. 'Prose poems' don't even have the decency to decide what they are...
Anyone got a thought? |