Niki Herd

The Prose Poem: Time & Movement

Wednesday, December 11, 2024, 2:00 to 3:30 p.m.

The past decade or so has seen a resurgence in prose poetry. From the second-person observational modes of Claudia Rankine’s Citizen to the conceptual frameworks of Victoria Chang’s OBIT to the interiorities of Taylor Johnson’s Inheritance, the prose poem has proven as wide and varied a form as traditionally lineated poetry. In this seminar, we will discuss how to craft different measures of time to propel a prose poem forward and to deepen its impact. While a generative prompt will be given toward the end of our discussion, students are encouraged to bring to class a poem, any poem, that has yet to find its form.

Required Reading (in Reader):

Skaja, Emily. “Elegy Without a Single Tree I Can Save.” Brute. Graywolf Press, 2019, p. 11.

Vuong, Ocean. “Nothing.” Time Is a Mother. Penguin, 2023, p. 57.