F A L L 2 0 2 1
Margeaux Walter © 2021
PROSE poeM ISSUE
special double issue
Salvador Dali Exhumed! Brian Clements
Two Poems Shira Moolten
Two Poems Denise Duhamel
Cleaning Out the Garage William Doreski
Two Poems Peter Conners
Catharsis Grace Q. Song
Three Poems Peter Johnson
Two Poems Rhienna Renée Guedry
Two Poems Holly Iglesias
Santa Catalina Island Viewed from Venice Beach Tom Laichas
Next to His Coffee Kevin Miller
Firm Thoughts in a Loose Grip A. Molotkov
Two Poems Ray Gonzalez
During the Pandemic Kathleen McGookey
Terrorists Jeff Friedman
Boulder Triptych Maureen Seaton
The new church Bryan Price
Sins of Omniscience Gian Lombardo
Golden Stallion Angela Ball
Two Poems Paul Hetherington & Cassandra Atherton
Two Poems Emily Pettit
Casualx Ad / Wanted: Wife-Dispellers Susan Terris
[Having been mothered, didn’t I tell myself “never motherhood”] Katie Berta
Woman Becoming Winston Churchill Hilary King
The Partitive Case Nan Cohen
Two Poems Brian Johnson
Two Poems Tom Whalen
Three Poems Bob Heman
Two Poems Harryette Mullen
From the Archives Nin Andrews, Winter 2018
virtual salon
monthly video reading series
visuals
from the ether
On the prose poem
A type of poem. A style. A rhetorical approach. However one thinks of it, for poets, the prose poem is much more than a typographical anomaly. It’s more than its boxy arrangement* on the page. It’s a creative impulse and intention, one that conveys its elemental muscle—its impact if you will—without traditional physical artifice: the line break. No matter what its inspiration, the prose poem remains, as I’d argue for all poetry, a literary expression able to “generate the surplus meaning that helps separate poetry in prose from ordinary writing,” as David Lehman suggests in Great American Prose Poems from Poe to the Present.
According to poet Robert Bly in Bear Flag Republic: Prose Poems and Poetics from California, Charles Baudelaire believed “the prose poem would be the major form of the twentieth century.” While last century did see the wide proliferation of the form, sometimes referred to as genre—or sub-genre as Brian Clements parses in An Introduction to the Prose Poem; or what Lehman calls “suis generis work”; or simply “Voodoo Poetics,” a label David Young applies in Models of the Universe: An Anthology of the Prose Poem; while a most recent text, Prose Poetry: An Introduction reasserts the term “literary form”—in light of the overwhelming response to our initial call for submissions to this DMQ Review special Prose Poem Issue, I will simply update Baudelaire’s prediction a century. Look out 21st!
If you’re looking for a definition, the several texts mentioned above—and many others—do the hard work of excavating the prose poem, its histories, its champions and detractors, its various taxonomies, while bringing together a diversity of examples across time and space. In today’s evolving landscape of written and spoken word, the best definition of prose poetry is made by its practitioners—both stalwarts and newcomers—who delight us with their recent work.
It was pure pleasure putting this issue together. What we especially love about our featured artist Margeaux Walter’s quirky, satirical photography from her pandemic-inspired project, “All Natural,” is the way her images capture with humor “the human desire to connect to nature,” an angst compounded by social distancing and isolation. Each photo reminds me of a prose poem in its vivid, compressed imagery and potent impact. And how well the cover gif illustrates our summer hopes of pandemic-release, now dashed by Covid-19’s resurgence this fall.
Some of the poems here consider our specific moment. Others carry us away to an imaginative place. Kudos to Margeaux and to all of our contributors to this special double-issue. We’re pleased to present them and this prose poem issue to you. We hope you will savor each page and revisit them from time to time.
And by the way, we’ve had so much fun reading these prose poems, we’ve decided to do it again. Submissions are now open for a Spring Prose Poem Issue.
from the Ether,
Sally Ashton
Editor in Chief