Prose Poetry

Charles Bukowski

So you want to be a writer.

if it doesn't come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don't do it.

unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don't do it.

if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don't do it.

if you're doing it for money or
fame,
don't do it.

if you're doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don't do it.

if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don't do it.

if it's hard work just thinking about doing it,
don't do it.

if you're trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.

if you have to wait for it to roar out of
you,
then wait patiently.

if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.

if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you're not ready.

don't be like so many writers,
don't be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don't be dull and boring and
pretentious, don't be consumed with self-
love.

the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
sleep
over your kind.
don't add to that.

don't do it.

unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don't do it.

unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don't do it.

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.

there is no other way.

and there never was.

Layout for Prose Poetry

Know that you won't have to worry about rules of form. Rhyme schemes, meter, stanza and line breaks don't apply.

Consider the structure of prose. Prose poems take the shape of paragraphs and contain sentences and sentences fragments.

Think about a time where you were struck by a particular image, how you came upon that image, how that image made you feel and what went through your mind when you saw it.

Write about that experience. Pay particular attention to describing the image and your emotions in detail. Use poetic devices like consonance, assonance, simile, metaphor, repetition and symbol. You can tell a story in your poem, but it comes second to the language (or how you tell the story).

Don't worry about correct punctuation right now. You may be writing a prose poem, but you still want to keep the effects of poetry. Sometimes correct punctuation can hurt the rhythm you've established. Your prose poem can contain sentence fragments and very long sentences.

Read over your prose poem. Take note of the language you've used. See if you can add more detail. Take note of the story or the thoughts you've expressed. See if anything needs to be added or revised.

See if you have an epiphany. Not all poems need epiphanies, but some really benefit from them. See if the poem's train of thought naturally leads to an epiphany or a closing thought or image to leave with the reader.

Pantoum Poem

All the Wild Horses

Standing and watching

a part of the world pass

enjoying the beauties

of each peaceful day.

A part of the world passes

as we stand side by side

each peaceful day

so full of beauty and comfort.

As we stand side by side

eating the grain

so full of beauty and comfort

our minds and hearts at ease

Eating the grain

standing and watching

our minds and hearts at ease

enjoy the beauty.

Diamante Poem

It sure is beautiful here, isn't it? Look how drastically different this is; cold and warm at the same time. This is my entry for today.

Winter

Rainy, Cold

Skiing, Skating, Sledding

Mountains, Wind, Breeze, Ocean

Swimming, Surfing, Scuba Diving

Sunny, Hot

Summer

Haiku poem

Green and speckled legs,
Hop on logs and lily pads
Splash in cool water.

Tanka poem

Thunderclouds building
Gathering strength as they grow
Releasing themselves
Pouring life-giving torrents
Cleansing the world in shower

Who is a Poet?

Who is a poet? 

A poet is somebody who feels, and who expresses his feelings through words.

This may sound easy. It isn’t.

A lot of people think or believe or know they feel—but that’s

thinking or believing or knowing; not feeling. And poetry is

feeling—not knowing or believing or thinking.

Almost anybody can learn to think or believe or know, but not a single

human being can be taught to feel. Why? Because whenever you think

or you believe or you know, you’re a lot of other people: but the

moment you feel, you’re nobody-but-yourself.

To be nobody-but-yourself—in a world which is doing its best, night

and day, to make you everybody else—means to fight the hardest

battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.

As for expressing nobody-but-yourself in words, that means working

just a little harder than anybody who isn’t a poet can possible

imagine. Why? Because nothing is quite as easy as using words like

somebody else. We all of us do exactly this nearly all of the

time—and whenever we do it, we are not poets.

If, at the end of your first ten or fifteen years of fighting and

working and feeling, you find you’ve written one line of one poem,

you’ll be very lucky indeed.

And so my advice to all young people who wish to become poets is: do

something easy, like learning how to blow up the world—unless you’re

not only willing, but glad, to feel and work and fight till you die.

Does this sound dismal? It isn’t. It’s the most wonderful life on earth. Or so I feel.