The Best of the Prose Poem: An International Journal

by JOHNSON PETER (ED)

• ISBN13: 9781893996083
• ISBN10: 1893996085
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-09-01
• Publisher: Consortium Book Sales & Dist

Summary

Since its inception in 1992, The Prose Poem: An International Journal, has published work which even the writers themselves cannot define without resorting to metaphor. Russell Edson likens prose poems to "cast-iron aeroplanes that can actually fly," while Charles Simic states that writing them is like "trying to catch a fly in a dark room. The fly probably isn't even there...you keep tripping over and bumping into things in hot pursuit." Nonetheless, Johnson knows a prose poem when he reads one. Better still, he recognizes a good one and has included many of them here. Poets include Edson, Simic, Robert Bly, Louis Jenkins, Kim Addonizio, David Ignatow, James Tate, and many others, both well-known and emerging. Peter Johnson lives in Rhode Island where he teaches at Providence College.

Table of Contents

Introduction	10	(9)
Peter Johnson
Last Gifts	19	(1)
Kim Addonizio
In The Sportsman	20	(1)
Robert Alexander
Dear Shahid	21	(1)
Agha Shahid Ali
Moral Discourse	22	(1)
Jack Anderson
Angels	23	(1)
The Obsession	24	(1)
Nin Andrews
The Summer My Sister Turned Fourteen	25	(1)
In Grandma's Bathroom	26	(1)
Lucky, The Latin Lover Of Lombard, Illinois	27	(1)
Rane Arroyo
Privacy	28	(1)
Rose Auslander
Progress	29	(1)
Poem XXXV	30	(1)
Ruth Behar
The Toymaker Gloomy But Then Again Sometimes Happy	31	(2)
Michael Benedikt
Viol Da Gamba	33	(1)
Aloysius Bertrand
Warning To The Reader	34	(1)
Robert Bly
An Oyster Shell	35	(1)
Beatniks	36	(1)
Michael Bowden
If You're There Pick Up	37	(1)
The Accident	38	(1)
John Bradley
Memo To Ariadne	39	(1)
Tumor	40	(1)
Joel Brouwer
Marked	41	(1)
Ignis Fatuus	42	(2)
Christopher Buckley
Lucy Z	44	(1)
Lynne Burris Butler
A Little Request	45	(1)
Chambers/Federman
The Sound	46	(2)
Maxine Chernoff
Heavenly Bodies	48	(2)
Practicum	50	(1)
Michael Chitwood
The Land Of Liars	51	(1)
David Citino
Clear of oak groves...	52	(1)
Killarney Clary
Early radios talk...	53	(1)
Hay	54	(1)
Mark Cunningham
But These Boys Today	55	(1)
Craig Czury
Psalm For Fay	56	(2)
Philip Dacey
The Bait	58	(2)
Jon Davis
The Frogs	60	(1)
In History: I	61	(1)
In History: II	62	(1)
The Common Man	63	(1)
In this moment...	64	(1)
Ales Debeljak
Indifferently, he watched...	65	(1)
The Music	66	(1)
Chard deNiord
Dad's Home	67	(1)
Peter Desy
Dilation	68	(1)
Ray DiPalma
The Urban Life	69	(1)
Liljana Dirjan
Alphabet Soup	70	(2)
Stuart Dybek
Sleep	72	(1)
Russell Edson
Bread	73	(1)
The Traveling Circus	74	(1)
Balls	75	(1)
The Portrait	76	(1)
The Antique Shop	77	(1)
Maria Of The Night	78	(1)
Nikos Engonopoulos
Rip Van Winkle	79	(1)
Elke Erb
Constrictor	80	(1)
Clayton Eshleman
The History Of Passion Will Tumble This Week	81	(1)
Gary Fincke
A Little Kitchen Music	82	(2)
Lawrence Fixel
The Smile At The Foot Of The Ladder	84	(2)
T. S. Eliot Was a Negro	86	(1)
Charles Fort
Chickenhead	87	(1)
Richard Garcia
Mom Told Me To Grow Up And Win The Nobel Prize	88	(1)
Val Gerstle
Mysterious Tears	89	(2)
Amy Gerstler
The Wolverine	91	(1)
Gary Gildner
Words Found Above A Swinging Gate	92	(1)
James Vladimir Gill
Busy	93	(1)
Ray Gonzalez
Shopping Trip	94	(1)
Miriam Goodman
Speak Up	95	(1)
David Greenslade
Lifting The Virgin	96	(1)
Richard Gwyn
The Grinder Baruch Espinosa	97	(1)
Leo Haber
Omaha	98	(2)
S. C. Hahn
That UFO That Picked On Us	100	(1)
Cecil Helman
Geography	101	(1)
Bob Heman
This Time	102	(1)
The Invitation	103	(1)
Brian Henry
The Rubbing	104	(1)
Jennifer L. Holley
The Encyclopaedia Britannica Uses, Down Syndrome To Define ``Monster''	105	(2)
Brooke Horvath
Thursday Afternoon: Life Is Sweet	107	(1)
Holly Iglesias
Proud Of Myself	108	(1)
David Ignatow
My Own House	109	(1)
A Modern Fable	110	(1)
Without Recrimination	111	(1)
A Little Charade	112	(1)
Gray Jacobik
Le Nouveau Temps	113	(1)
Sibyl James
September	114	(1)
Louis Jenkins
Your Baby	115	(1)
The Working Life	116	(1)
Self-Portrait (Kneeling)	117	(1)
Brian Johnson
Night-Blindness	118	(1)
The Things A Man Keeps	119	(1)
Jim Johnson
The Preparation Of Bone Glue	120	(3)
George Kalamaras
Tohu	123	(3)
Paol Keineg
Homicidal Domicile II: Night Of The No-Par	126	(1)
Bill Knott
The Big Deep Voice Of God	127	(1)
Mary A. Koncel
After The Weather	128	(1)
Emanuel On The Tightrope	129	(1)
No Name For It	130	(1)
Stephen Kuusisto
Black Box	131	(1)
David Lazar
The Leopard's Mouth Is Dry And Cold Inside	132	(1)
Larry Levis
Toad, Hog, Assassin, Mirror	133	(1)
A Poem For Ahab	134	(2)
P. H. Liotta
A Balkan Odyssey	136	(2)
In Melville's Room	138	(1)
Check-in At Nurnberg	139	(1)
Rachel Loden
Droughtmonger	140	(1)
Gian Lombardo
On The Bias	141	(1)
If Words Hold Still	142	(1)
Small Clinic At Kilometer 7	143	(2)
Robert Hill Long
Doing Hatha Yoga	145	(2)
The Mussorgsky Question	147	(3)
Morton Marcus
The Stone Flowers	150	(1)
Three Heroes	151	(1)
Light	152	(1)
Peter Markus
Black Light	153	(1)
The Prodigal Son Is Spotted On The Grassy Knoll	154	(1)
Dionisio D. Martinez
A Village	155	(1)
Michael Martone
A Resort	156	(1)
Talk	157	(1)
William Matthews
Attention, Everyone	158	(1)
Difficulty In My Heart	159	(1)
Kathleen McGookey
Ugly, smiling Agnes...	160	(1)
Roadside Motels	161	(1)
Jay Meek
Leaving The Roadside Motel	162	(1)
Forces	163	(1)
From Necessities	164	(2)
Christopher Merrill
Simplicity	166	(1)
Henri Michaux
Plume Had A Sore Finger	167	(2)
The Fig	169	(1)
Gabriela Mistral
From Nothing In The Dark	170	(1)
Fred Muratori
From Nothing In The Dark	171	(1)
The Key	172	(1)
Pablo Neruda
Self-Portrait As My Father	173	(1)
Kristy Nielsen
Hammer And Nail	174	(1)
Naomi Shihab Nye
Le Feria	175	(1)
Ghost Triptych	176	(1)
Nina Nyhart
War Stories	177	(1)
Chicago	178	(1)
Tommy Olofsson
I Remember Clearly	179	(1)
Imre Oravecz
Gillagain	180	(1)
Robert Perchan
Bachelorhood	181	(1)
Nights At The Races	182	(1)
Blood Somewhere	183	(1)
Jane Lunin Perel
Ahead And Behind	184	(1)
Francis Picabia
Tradition	185	(1)
Cristian Popescu
The Spectator	186	(1)
Constance Pultz
All sorts of rubbish...	187	(1)
Jacques Reda
The fairground starts...	188	(1)
Combat Area	189	(1)
Pierre Reverdy
Behind The Eyelids	190	(1)
Evening Walk	191	(1)
Yannis Ritsos
Hannelore	192	(2)
Vern Rutsala
Your Time Will Come	194	(1)
John Shoemaker
Saved	195	(1)
Barry Silesky
Holy Day	196	(1)
Theseus And Ariadne	197	(1)
Charles Simic
Euphemia Gray's Pubis	198	(1)
Heroic Moment	199	(1)
Voice From The Cage	200	(1)
Medals	201	(1)
Goran Simic
War Mice	202	(1)
China Lesson	203	(1)
William Slaughter
Amerika	204	(1)
Bruce Smith
A Parisian Dinner	205	(1)
Ellen McGrath Smith
Windy Day At Kabekona	206	(1)
Thomas R. Smith
Radio	207	(1)
Linda Smukler
Prayer	208	(1)
Searches	209	(1)
Maura Stanton
The Sign	210	(2)
J. David Stevens
The Director	212	(1)
Brian Swann
Man And His Shadow	213	(1)
Jean Tardieu
Denied Areas	214	(1)
James Tate
To Each His Own	215	(1)
All Over The Lot	216	(1)
Her Silhouette Against The Alpenglow	217	(1)
Max In Egypt	218	(1)
Carine Topal
Mail-Order Bride	219	(1)
Helen Tzagoloff
Letter From The Cabin	220	(1)
Mark Vinz
The Getaway	221	(1)
Not `Why Build' But `Which Tools'	222	(1)
Chris Volpe
What Perhaps You Don't Understand	223	(1)
Diane Wald
Post Prandial	224	(1)
Liz Waldner
This	225	(1)
Rosemarie Waldrop
Pomades	226	(1)
Charles Harper Webb
A Stockbroker Dreams A Story	227	(2)
Baseball	229	(1)
Tom Whalen
The Next Morning	230	(1)
Connemara	231	(1)
M.L. Williams
The Riddle Of The Sphinx	232	(1)
Peter Wortsman
Gertrude And Alice Pose	233	(1)
Song Of The Gourd	234	(1)
C.D. Wright
The Newly Renovated Opera House On Gilligan's Island	235	(3)
John Yau
Lullaby For The Elderly	238	(1)
David Young
Kitchen Ruckus	239	(1)
I discovered a journal...	240	(1)
Gary Young
My son is learning about death...	241	(1)
Incognito	242	(1)
Andrew Zawacki
The Hole	243	(1)
Gene Zeiger
The Wind	244	(1)
Sky Upon Us	245	(1)
James A. Zoller
Epilogue
The Prose Poem As A Beautiful Animal	246	(1)
Russell Edson
Selected Bibliography	247	(4)
Contributors	251