Tabula Rasa

My first (and frankly, rather pathetic) attempt at prose poetry.

My prose sticks insistently to the crisp page, infecting the virgin whiteness with its malignance. These words are as a joker in the pack of Bicycles - an abomination that does not suit the rest, doomed to solitary hysteria, drowning in its undeniable otherness. I, like prose, am not a body but an electrifying non-substance that spawns combinations of words that are inexplicably alive, if only by virtue of their unconquerable subtlety. Serpentine, my uncontrollèd lines wind their tantalizing nonphysical forms around Meaning, fervently sucking all but the last succulent droplets from its barren rind. And I, the Artist, goddess to their toil, only watch as white is blotted black, as abstract symbol yields to abstract concept, as pen ravishes paper.

Author's Note

Ugh, the imagery is so scattered. I admit, this is basically a free write that I tried to guide and direct as much as possible.

Reviews

[JohnL]

'My first (and frankly, rather pathetic) attempt at prose poetry?' Never. Well, if measured in terms of reader enjoyment, it isn't pathetic. Imagery will be scattered because there is no division or physical discipline as there would be in a more normal format of free verse, but it is sufficiently together here for me to grasp your meanings and have a mental picture.
'Serpentine, my uncontroll�d lines wind their tantalizing nonphysical forms around Meaning' - See what I mean?
"Why write Prose Poetry?" we may well ask. I thought a bit about that one. I like to think that there is an element of poetry in all my writing. Prose poetry is a good way to develop this. I don't mean I want everything to sound like Wordsworth's 'Daffodils', but the drama and beauty of more or maybe less poeticism (have I just made that one up?) can, I believe, add quality to pure prose. PP is a good halfway house on the learning curve towards good prose, - - and I liked the piece as well - so there!
John

[Emily B]

maybe the words just want to stretch out a little . . .

it is good work.

[Samuel Dickens]

Emily--we are our own worst judges. I think this prose poem is fine--at least I can understand most of it.

[Charles D. Moorer]

The title matches the piece.

[Cardinal Robin]

This reminds me of how mind rotting academia can make us who struggle with our Artist self. The dry constraints and intense pressures of learning in the going through the motions and getting your degree can churn out an abundance of this. You must have at least let off steam by giving "it" expression. I enjoyed the angst of it, and all of it true within the context of a word/art explosion. Captivating and energized for sure!
The struggle never ends, we maybe get better at it as we go along, and we have no choice but to give our heart a voice. Great stuff, keep it up!
Laugh and smile anyway,
Robin

[Donald Meikle]

Oh to be free
Oh to be guided and directed as much as possible
Don't really know how to define prose poetry.
You certainly critiqued it almost as it flowed to soil the paper
(I liked it (So there!))