The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Prose Poetry: Contemporary Poets in Discussion and Practice
"I'm not sure it matters all that much whether some poems are lined or not," notes the poet James Harris in this anthology and exploration of prose poetry. Although Harris may be right, most of the 30 or so poets writing here spend a considerable amount of space trying to define or defend the prose poem. Contributor Beckian Fritz Goldberg quotes a student who calls prose poetry "the ugliest girl at the party who is having the best time." Indeed, many of these unusually accessible poems have elements of humor and pop culture that subvert the popular notion of poetry as rhymed stanzas on the topics of nature or death. But for the casual reader, few of the essays pop, and some of the poems read as too-obvious explorations of the genre, but the largest fault is of omission. By choosing to focus on contemporary poets alone, the editors have eschewed anyone whose work helped to create this genre. When over half of the poets reference the influence of Russell Edson, it's disappointing that Edson himself is absent.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.