Returning to prose poetry this week and nostalgically returning to memories of my time in New York .  I am recounting  one of the many adjustments that were part of living in another country, another culture. Fast Paced City   The first time I visited New York, I realised those stories I had heard about a fast-paced city were accurate. When I stepped out onto the streets it was like viewing a movie where the action had sped up. I found myself on the edge of a fast-flowing stream. I felt a sense of everyone moving somewhat quicker than I was accustomed to. Walking along Broadway, I began dodging and weaving between oncoming walkers. I was navigating the rocks in the stream.  It was simultaneously thrilling and daunting, but I resolved to adjust my stride to the pulse of the city. I garnered a New York state of mind. Stepping out on the city sidewalks. Speed walking. Alive and alert.  I was in the slipstream! Alan j Wright It is Poetry Friday and Michel...

  This week I am travelling back to the prose poetry form. I delved into my ever expanding collection of prose poems and booked these four travel themed poems to share.  The benefit of travel is that each time you strike out into the wider world, you are rewarded with stories. Such rich pickings for those of us who poet... Prose Poetry From The Travel Zone Brief Pelican Encounter A woman holidaying in Florida endured a frightening collision with a pelican which flew into the side of her face while she was swimming. The woman’s cheek required 25 stitches. The pelican died. Fox News in their usual sensational reporting style ran a headline declaring 'Pelican Attacks Woman In Florida.' The woman from Ohio thought the pelican may have mistaken her for a fish.Fin. Alan j Wright The Ubiquitous Bob Marley In London they say you are never further than eight feet from a rat at any one time. In the Caribbean you are never more than eight feet from the sound of a Bob Marley song! Bob may...

 This is another example of prose poetry. The poem owes its origins to real events that occurred during an Australian summer when I was a teenager. It is strange to be recalling a summertime event in the middle of an Australian winter, but it was an unforgettable time and it often resurfaces, particularly when I revisit my old home town.  During that long ago summer, a string of hot summer days -a heat wave was ours to endure. A summer that left the landscape parched and dry and communities exposed to the potential of devastating bush fires. And so it transpired...  The poem is presented in two stanzas; blocks of texts representing the before and after aspects of the event. A Summer Blaze   During my fourteenth summer a January bushfire tried to erase our small town. It poked its flaming head above the ridge line, consumed a pine plantation then down the slope it raced, hot and voracious. Acrid smoke surrounded our homes, our streets, our every tiny space. Live e...

  Prose poetry is written as prose, without the line breaks associated with poetry. Prose poetry often makes use of devices such as fragmentation, compression, repetition, rhyme, metaphor, and figures of speech. It can express the lyricism and emotion of poetry, and lends itself to exploring a variety of themes. I noted its use in a number of anthologies in my personal library with some interesting variations in structure and presentation. I immediately felt compelled to rummage deeper. I have been experimenting with different formations and in coming weeks will share a few.   I willingly own up to enjoying the exploration of diverse poetry forms and it with this in mind I share this recently 'made' example of prose poetry. A satisfying process to polish and refine my intial raw words. Close Your Eyes And Step Into The Unknown At Essex Street subway interchange I am walking up the stairs when a small girl and her mother approach from the opposite direction. As they desc...

I have found myself provoked into action by fellow Poetry Friday poets and the attention they have been giving to prose poetry.I wanted to go to this same place. It sounded so intriguing.  I quickly settled on a theme -travel experiences. I delved into a vast collection of entries in an unpublished manuscript tentatively called -Inklings, for they all originated from writer's notebook entries across more than forty years. So this is a sample of a new anthology  currently under construction with the draft title -Travel Seen. Economical Exfoliation Young American woman walks to the water's edge on Seminyak Beach. Assuming a Buddha pose she begins scooping handfuls of shoreline sand, covering her entire body with a wet, black, gritty application of a clearly abundant natural resource. With admirable flexibility she covers her entire back, rubbing, rubbing, exfoliating her skin with this plentiful gritty application. She stands, removes her sunglasses and wide brimmed hat before p...