Nice Fish: New and Selected Prose Poems
Previously available only in limited-circulation books, Jenkins's work fills a great need in modern American prose poems, striking a balance between surrealism and precision thus far found mainly in translations. Many pieces are portraits and run the risk of becoming stories; instead they involve readers momentarily in a character's life, then turn an invisible corner, breaking the story line while holding the attention. Time vanishes; a history unfolds in the space of a paragraph. Crucial events are merely hinted at. A poem on aging, for example, ends with a moment "blinding as the flash when someone snaps a picture of you blowing out the candles." We begin in middle-age and end in middle age; we've gotten nowhere; it's all extremely well-crafted verbiage. We sit back and enjoy. An added bonus: Jenkins's brief introduction is one of the most lucid descriptions of the prose poem available.?Rochelle Ratner, formerly Poetry Editor, "Soho Weekly News," New YorkCopyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.