Kristen McHenry has just published two new poems. And by “new” I don’t just mean that they are new to me; she is working in a new form. Her work up to now has been traditional “lined” verse. My earlier article on her has a good example. These two new pieces are prose poems.

You can check out the poems over at Busk. The first of them is called Theme, and it is written in three parts. This is the third part called “Blue”:

I’m still gnawing on the entire poem and this third part I find the most mysterious. But meaning is not what I find most remarkable here. In a traditional poem, I feel that the line breaks dictate the melody and rhythm of the words. With the prose poem, I’m free to find this “music” on my own. (And yes, mostly I do read poetry out loud.)

In this poem fragment, the opening line continues on and on, tempting the reader to resolve several times in the first sentence. Yet it never feels quite right. Following this, the second short sentence breaks in two. And then, we get into a much more rigid pattern which reminds me of a Gil Scott-Heron rap.

I’ve never thought much about prose poetry. But now I see it as perhaps a more creative art form—for the reader. As the reader of poetry is perhaps the most creative of artistic consumers, this is a very good thing.