Sisyphean

This week’s poem, Sisyphean, is a prose poem and appears in print here for the first time. Other than the reference in the title, Sisyphus doesn’t make an appearance, which should cheer those of you who are tired of hearing about him.

A prose poem can use all the literary devices a poem uses, except for the line break. Which is ironic, because the only literary device a poem uses, which prose does not, is the non-paragraph line break. The important distinction therefore is not so much the difference between a poem and a prose poem but the difference between a prose poem and conventional prose.

A prose poem isn’t exactly fiction, doesn’t tell a complete story, though it often tells at least a piece of a story. It’s a portion that suggests some larger tale or meaning. That’s the prose part of prose poetry.

The language of prose poetry is typically more vivid, rhythmic and figurative than conventional prose, as if the writer took the words and imagery up a notch. That’s the poetry part of prose poetry.

Poets.org gives a more thorough explanation, with some examples, if you’d like more than my admittedly circular definition.

Sisyphean

Hustle three kids through the grocery store, none crying. Then in the car, home. Kids and groceries from the steamy stinking lot up the steps to sterile apartment. Three flights, huffing. Changes, bathroom, dinner, three dinners. Only one eats like an adult, sort of. Using the melamine plate printed with a frog and toad. Hard to tell which is frog and which is toad, the food not allowed to touch either amphibian. Food can’t be brown, green beans can’t touch the meatballs. Utensils optional, and anyway you shouldn’t stab your siblings, not even with fingers. Then baths, two, and a half-bath taken while bathing the others. Towels snapping, green stripes blurred from too many bleachings. Then pajamas, four pairs. Bedtime stories. Some crying, quota left from the grocery. Then the moon, the inconsolable moon that refuses to cry.

If you enjoyed Sisyphean

You can read more of my work on this blog or in the collection Stars Crawl Out From Their Caves, which is available in both ebook and print.  Missed a poem of the week? Links to prior weeks are on this page.  

I’ve been traveling for business, so this is going out a little later on Monday than usual. You can see a little bit of where I’ve been recently and what I’ve been doing from my instagram feed, either directly on Instagram or here on this site.

Have a great week, and look for another poem next Monday.