All we can do here is look into these contrapuntal quotations. Poetry is what distinguishes good prose from bad prose. By this I mean a certain attentiveness to the composition of the individual line, an awareness that all writing is writing metaphor, and also that language is not a mere utility, which can move us from plot point A to plot point B, but that words are living things , that there are rhythms in every line, that there should be music in every living sentence. This is what the poets teach us. I think he's nearly ready to begin writing some decent prose.
Poets can spend all day on one word.
If I did that, people would think I was a slacker . We don't want Joe Sixpack to take one look at our book and think it's all poetry and put it aside without reading word one.