THIRTEEN POTSHOTS AT THE PROSE POEM, a Craft Essay by Mike James
THIRTEEN POTSHOTS AT THE PROSE POEM a Craft Essay by Mike James An alien lands at a city basketball court at night. He either lands inside a science fiction story or he lands inside a prose poem. ◊ Prose poems are the pulp fiction of poetry. They exist to be read with flashlights beneath wool blankets at night. ◊ Prose poems are kept in basements and attics. They are seldom invited to dinner parties and award shows. ◊ Howie Good, wrote, “The prose poem exists to challenge and provoke and to raise a defiant middle finger to all who would colonize consciousness.” Howie Good knows how to write a prose poem. ◊ Readers consider prose poems to be autobiographical at the same rate as they consider all other poems. The introduction of aliens, mermaids, parrots, Bhutan, private detectives, or drag queens will not dissuade this tendency. ◊ A prose … chop! chop! read more!