Thread topic: When you read a prose poem, how do you know if it’s poetry?
I’m reading “Monsieu Pierre est mort” and thinking about how the story level of a poem often shares the structure of a joke. I begin with unlikely premise, examine three examples or as many as the joke will bear, deliver the punch. This poem upends my expectations wickedly by inviting me to ask is this poetry? right up until the punch (line), and then to savor my bafflement as I reconsider the title and wonder at the poet’s skill to hide the meaning of plain language (Mr. Pierre is dead) until it is revealed through the poet’s imagination. It’s ridiculous right up to the “Oh la la” and then quite suddenly sublime.
It’s an old question, but each of us must examine these things for ourselves.
Related question: how do you know when a found poem is a poem?
A clown in El Salvador
protests bandits
dressing up like clowns
to rob and kill people
by spitting
a huge ball of fire
into the air.
