I Didn’t Like Reading Prose Poetry. Then I Wrote One of My Own.

Poetry has always played an important role in my life. I have read poetry for decades, devouring anything and everything that resembled a poem.

 

Except for prose poems.

 

The first time I saw a prose poem, I made a look of disgust and said, “That’s not a poem! It’s a story!” This judgment made, I avoided reading that poem – and every single one after it!

 

Then the day came that I wrote one of my own prose poems. I had no control over how I constructed this poem; the words just came out through my fingers and, before I knew it, I had a paragraph.

 

One very LONG paragraph!

 

A thing I don’t like about prose poems is when a giant paragraph of words makes up the poem. I would get a headache just trying to read all of those lines so close together! I prefer my paragraphs short and spaced out.

 

That said, I didn’t like what I saw with my poem, either. So, when I revised it later, I broke those lines up. Anything to make those paragraphs shorter and manageable!

 

And less headache-inducing.

 

But something interesting happened after I wrote that prose poem. I started reading other ones, too!

 

Somehow, I no longer disliked prose poetry! I was now interested in reading them!

 

And now I am reading even more of them!

 

So, not only did I manage to write a prose poem, but I am now reading them, too.

 

They say our tastes in reading change as we grow older. I guess now my taste in reading is more welcoming towards prose poetry. I want to read them! I NEED to read them!

 

As long as they are not presented as One. Giant. Paragraph. Of words.