Saturday, March 25, 2006

"Please, Take Back The Sparrows"

http://www.versedaily.org/2006/takesparrows.shtml

Normally I do not like prose poems.....normally I hate prose poems. Today I am lifting my self-imposed ban on prose poems. Not only am I reading one, I am recommending one. (When I rescind something, even temporarily, I rescind it fully.)

For some reason this particular poem by Suzanne Buffam (whom I've never even heard of) hit me directly in the gut. There's not a thing in here which isn't true and concise and for prose poetry, it's quite baldly stated. It's stark, it's simplistic and it's profound in its stark simplicity. The ending is (to quote a fat-friend's favorite phrase about food) "to die for."

"They bathe in dust." How good is THAT?

1 comment:

Julie Carter said...

Yes, I like that, too.

Though I don't generally have a beef with prose poems. I have a beef with prose as a poem, but not prose poems.

Thanks for the link.