A MYRIAD OF FORM(S)
The Prose Poem
Monthly Prompt №7:October
A Definition
By definition, prose poetry appears as prose, reads as poetry, yet lacks line breaks associated with regular poetry, but still makes use of poetic devices such as fragmentation, compression, repetition, rhyme, metaphor, symbols and figures of speech common to poetry.
In the past six months, I’ve written more prose poetry than in the rest of my life. When writing prose poems, I find myself more apt to stretch lines further out, making them denser than usual, but still having a certain tendency to make crucial line breaks at the same spots I would if I were writing a free verse poem. It lets me know that there’s a very fine line between the two, but that prosetry (as I’ve sometimes seen it called) involves a definite act of delicate yet deliberate balance between prosaic elements and poetic devices. It would seem to be the perfect hybrid.
History
In 17th-century Japan, Matsuo Bashō originated haibun, a form of prose poetry combining haiku with prose. It is best exemplified by his book Oku no Hosomichi, in which he used a literary genre of prose-and-poetry composition of multidimensional writing.
