
Taught by Jamison Crabtree / Saturday and Sunday, June 13 and 14 / 9:30 am to 3:30 pm both days (with a one-hour lunch break from 12:00 to 1:00 pm) / $155.00
The prose poem is amorphous: it’s a form without a form, a poem without lineation, a piece of prose that reevaluates the basic functions of narrative and plot. In this course, we will begin by tracing the origins and paths of the prose poem—from writers using the haibun in Japan, to flâneurs rebelling against the alexandrine line in France, to the prose-sonnets of English authors, to the surrealist/fabular approaches taken by poets in America and the prose poem as it stands today. We’ll examine the influence of landscape and language on the development of the prose poem, and identify the techniques (both narrative and lyric) that differentiate the prose poem from its lineated counterpart. We’ll use this all information to write some of our own prose poems, written in response to eight prompts. Whether you’ve worked with the prose poem for years or are completely new to the form, this class will introduce you to new techniques for writing, reading, and analyzing poetry.