In the December issue of Poetry Magazine, reprinted on the Harriet Blog, Molly Peacock shares an extended meditation on the prose poem. Before troubling the easy dichotomies often ascribed to the parent genre, Peacock lays them out: “Poetry seeks to name; prose seeks to explain. Poems favor nouns; prose rides on verbs.”
The piece goes on to explore the author’s bi-national identity, the narrative urge in lyric poetry, and the proposition that Canadians are less hung up on genre than the rest of the English-speaking world. A lovely read, full of food for thoughts for poets and prose-writers alike—if the two groups are distinguishable at this point, anyway.
