Traffic: New and Selected Prose Poems

by Jack Anderson

An amsusing, energetic, and engaging book of prose poetry.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0898231914
• ISBN13: 9780898231915
• Release Date: October 1998
• Publisher: White Pine Press (NY)
• Length: 76 Pages
• Weight: 0.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

5 stars for some poems, 4 for others, some 3's, perhaps a 2

I had read "Moral Discourse" in an anthology and thought the poet worth exploring. I knew I had a gem when in "The White Chapter" I read "Strangers will hand their words to you wrapped in flour, and you will sift them grain by grain until the vowels lose their accents." The language and imagery of these poems runs from the very mundane to highly creative and apt images. I would not class them all as "prose poems" - some I would call "sudden fiction", some "literary tidbits", some "prose poems".Some of the more memorable poems: "The Mysterious Barricades; or , The Enchaiments of Memory" which purports to explain the origin of the title of music by the same name - the explanation following a traditional chain of dance instructors. "The Sincere Poet" which satirizes the sincere, confessional poet. "Phalaris and the Bull: A Story and an Examination" which explores the reader's ethics in the context of an allegory. "Life on the Moon", a piece reminiscent of the best of Andrew Ramer, in which the waxing and waning of the moon reflect actual change in the land mass of the moon. "A Window in the Poem" a reflection on windows in painting ...There are a few pieces I consider "duds" but this is only because the breadth of content and style is so broad that no reader will have them all "speak to me."This book is well worth your time - as very short story or as prose poem.