Guest Post: The Equation of Prose Poetry by Tiffany Herron

Prose poetry is the marriage of prose and poetry. Learn how to write it from guest post by Tiffany Herron.

For National Poetry Month, this month’s writing advice is all about poetry. Since I am primarily a fiction and creative nonfiction writer, I’ve brought in poet Tiffany Herron to talk about prose poetry.

The Equation of Prose Poetry by Tiffany Herron

With the bone structure of short story and novel, and living somewhere between haiku and ballad, is prose poetry. Initially, the style may seem confusing, but it is easier to understand if you look at each piece separately.

Prose writing is mostly ordinary text that uses everyday speech and creates a foundation and framework. Whereas poetry relies on alliteration, repetition, rhythm and rhyme, and other literary devices.

What is Prose Poetry?

First coined in the early 19th century, prose poetry is similar to a mathematical equation. It is a distinct type of writing that combines the structure of prose (A) with the elements of poetry (B), with the result being a prose poem (C). Simply, A+B=C. More specifically, this style of writing uses poetic devices, all while maintaining traditional grammar and punctuation with no line breaks. So instead of verses and stanzas, there are paragraphs and sentences.

Using both of these techniques to form one written work may feel unnecessary, but the results can inspire various perspectives of related ideas. As writers, we are always looking for ways to make our words hold space with impact. We want our audience to feel and remember the emotions, settings, and depictions of the story or ideas that are being read.

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Writing Prose Poetry

If you are interested in learning how to write prose poetry, doing it in steps might help. Below are examples of similar concepts written each way.

Prose:

It was raining so hard outside that neither of us wanted to risk running to our cars. We stayed huddled under the small awning. I thought about the unusual discomfort of being completely soaked in a dry place.

These are complete sentences that form a paragraph and a pretty simple description of a downpour of rain and people not wanting to get wet, so they waited under the shelter together.

Poetry:

As if waterfalls were let loose
from celestial mountains
we feared being swept away,
we feared drowning,
we feared loneliness before ever making it
to our next destination
we stayed as dry as our little shelter
allowed and fed off each other’s heat

In this example, the description of rain is in the form of a simile, which is an element of poetry. There are line breaks and incomplete sentences, along with alliteration and repetition.

Prose Poetry:

Rain rolled from rooftops and ridges, and the strangers sustained in the small dry space. They were afraid to leave their refuge, afraid of the forces of nature, and afraid of arriving to their new destination wet and wild with shivers. They waited, waited together, waited out the weather, waited for comfort.

In the last example of the prose poem, the prose comes in the structure of a paragraph with complete sentences. At the same time, there is alliteration, rhythm, and rhyme, as well as repetition. 

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Now It’s Your Turn

Even though these examples are short, prose poems can be much longer. And even if you aren’t interested in writing a novel or a collection of poems, writing prose poetry may be a great exercise if you are ever stuck or in a slump.

Taking a stab at the prose poem equation may bring out new directions for a scene, a story, or spoken word.

Tiffany Herron is an emerging writer and recent graduate of the MA English Creative Writing program at the

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

She has published in Catalpa Magazine, the Samoa News, the program for Lemonade the Lecture, and in Clemson University’s literary magazine Chronicle.

She is currently assisting an award winning producer, John Beder, with a historical documentary, and working on a lyrical memoir following her journey of discovering her Pacific Island roots. Find her at tjherron.com.

If you have questions or comments, I’d love to hear them. Send me a message or find me on social media.