What do you think?
Rate this book
Best of The Prose Poem: An International Journal
Since its inception in 1992, The Prose An International Journal, has published work which even the writers themselves cannot define without resorting to metaphor. Russell Edson likens prose poems to "cast-iron aeroplanes that can actually fly," while Charles Simic states that writing them is like "trying to catch a fly in a dark room. The fly probably isn't even there...you keep tripping over and bumping into things in hot pursuit." Nonetheless, Johnson knows a prose poem when he reads one. Better still, he recognizes a good one and has included many of them here. Poets include Edson, Simic, Robert Bly, Louis Jenkins, Kim Addonizio, David Ignatow, James Tate, and many others, both well-known and emerging.
Peter Johnson lives in Rhode Island where he teaches at Providence College.
Peter Johnson lives in Rhode Island where he teaches at Providence College.
- GenresPoetry
240 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2000
About the author
Peter Johnson
19 books8 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
In 1951, Peter Johnson was born in Buffalo, New York. He received his BA from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and his MA and PhD in English from the University of New Hampshire. He is the winner of the 2001 James Laughlin Award for his second collection of prose poems, Miracles & Mortifications (2001).
His other books include Eduardo & "I" (White Pine, 2006), Pretty Happy! (1997), and the chapbook Love Poems for the Millennium (1998). He is also the author of a novel, What Happened (Front Street Books, 2007), as well as a collection of short stories, I'm a Man (2003).
Johnson is the founder and editor of The Prose Poem: An International Journal and the editor of The Best of The Prose Poem: An International Journal (White Pine Press, 2000).
About his work, the poet Bruce Smith has said, "Because Peter Johnson does not guide himself either by the turns and counterturns of verse or the horizontal urge of prose, he must continually reinvent the wheel and its destination. He writes with a lover's lavish extravagance and a yogi's self-discipline. His funny poems are heartbreaking and his serious ones are hilarious."
He received a creative writing award in 2002 from Rhode Council on the Arts and a fellowship in 1999 from the National Endowment for the Arts. A contributing editor to American Poetry Review, Web del Sol, and Slope, Peter Johnson teaches creative writing and children's literature at Providence College in Rhode Island, where he lives with his wife, Genevieve, and two sons, Kurt and Lucas.
In 1951, Peter Johnson was born in Buffalo, New York. He received his BA from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and his MA and PhD in English from the University of New Hampshire. He is the winner of the 2001 James Laughlin Award for his second collection of prose poems, Miracles & Mortifications (2001).
His other books include Eduardo & "I" (White Pine, 2006), Pretty Happy! (1997), and the chapbook Love Poems for the Millennium (1998). He is also the author of a novel, What Happened (Front Street Books, 2007), as well as a collection of short stories, I'm a Man (2003).
Johnson is the founder and editor of The Prose Poem: An International Journal and the editor of The Best of The Prose Poem: An International Journal (White Pine Press, 2000).
About his work, the poet Bruce Smith has said, "Because Peter Johnson does not guide himself either by the turns and counterturns of verse or the horizontal urge of prose, he must continually reinvent the wheel and its destination. He writes with a lover's lavish extravagance and a yogi's self-discipline. His funny poems are heartbreaking and his serious ones are hilarious."
He received a creative writing award in 2002 from Rhode Council on the Arts and a fellowship in 1999 from the National Endowment for the Arts. A contributing editor to American Poetry Review, Web del Sol, and Slope, Peter Johnson teaches creative writing and children's literature at Providence College in Rhode Island, where he lives with his wife, Genevieve, and two sons, Kurt and Lucas.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 6, 2009
There's a poet in this book whose work reviewer David Foster Wallace called "off-the-charts terrific": Jon Davis. Worth reading for Jon's five poems alone (though David Ignatow's are great too).
Displaying 1 of 1 review