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The Valley Press Anthology of Prose Poetry
Prose poetry is at the cutting edge of contemporary writing, freeing words from the bounds of traditional poetic grammar and bringing the magic of verse to flash fiction. In this ambitious, ground-breaking anthology, Valley Press showcases new work from a diverse range of UK writers, carefully curated by editors Anne Caldwell and Oz Hardwick.
Featuring bite-sized morsels of original writing from Simon Armitage, Jen Hadfield, Luke Kennard, Helen Mort, George Szirtes, Kim Moore, Inua Ellams, Carrie Etter and a host of other new and established talent, this is the ideal travelling companion for readers searching for a mind-expanding literary adventure.
Featuring bite-sized morsels of original writing from Simon Armitage, Jen Hadfield, Luke Kennard, Helen Mort, George Szirtes, Kim Moore, Inua Ellams, Carrie Etter and a host of other new and established talent, this is the ideal travelling companion for readers searching for a mind-expanding literary adventure.
116 pages, Paperback
Published June 28, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 9, 2024
I really liked this anthology, super varied and all great pieces. Obviously a few resonated with me more than others but that’s not indicative of the quality of each piece. Happy to have discovered authors I’d never heard of before.
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September 12, 2020I'm not going to rate this because I'm not really a fan of poetry. The only poets I like are Bukowski, Gregory Corso, Ginsberg, John Cooper Clarke that's about it for me. And I really don't like the type of modern poetry they teach in secondary school, where it's not really about anything, just an impression of a moment. Boring stuff. No rhyme, not much meaning to it. Written by a professor of English, for a few English teachers to buy. I don't really like poetry.
So why buy this?
The book Sum, is amazing and following on from that I bought Invisible Cities. Those books are really unique and exciting to me, and I've seen them described as prose poetry. There isn't much similarity between them and this. They lean into the prose, maybe they should be called narrative prose poetry or something like that, or philoso-prose-poetry. One of the main reasons I am writing this non-review is in the hope someone knows of any other books like those, because that's what I'm really after. (Let me know.)
This is more poetry written in a block to make it look like prose, a lot of the time. A lot of them are. Some are kind of list poems, there's one listing everything that is tight, one listing everything purple. There are some good experimental pieces. A few will have a shinning gem of an idea. Some of them do have a bit of a narrative, not much with a twist or beginning > middle > end but a few here and there. Also, I have to say it was all well written and chosen by people who know their stuff.
For the most part, it didn't really float my boat, but as I am not the audience for this I wouldn't put much weight on my opinion. So I'm not going to trash your score with my ignorant rating.
I will continue on my quest for the other type of prose poetry. And I am writing my own book of it to help out this sadly lacking world.
So why buy this?
The book Sum, is amazing and following on from that I bought Invisible Cities. Those books are really unique and exciting to me, and I've seen them described as prose poetry. There isn't much similarity between them and this. They lean into the prose, maybe they should be called narrative prose poetry or something like that, or philoso-prose-poetry. One of the main reasons I am writing this non-review is in the hope someone knows of any other books like those, because that's what I'm really after. (Let me know.)
This is more poetry written in a block to make it look like prose, a lot of the time. A lot of them are. Some are kind of list poems, there's one listing everything that is tight, one listing everything purple. There are some good experimental pieces. A few will have a shinning gem of an idea. Some of them do have a bit of a narrative, not much with a twist or beginning > middle > end but a few here and there. Also, I have to say it was all well written and chosen by people who know their stuff.
For the most part, it didn't really float my boat, but as I am not the audience for this I wouldn't put much weight on my opinion. So I'm not going to trash your score with my ignorant rating.
I will continue on my quest for the other type of prose poetry. And I am writing my own book of it to help out this sadly lacking world.
July 26, 2021
Some prose poems felt out of place and I definitely didn't get much out of them. Others, particularly "Ghetto van Gogh" by Inua Ellams, were extraordinary.
December 26, 2022
Was gifted this book by Oz Hardwick after he did a guest reading at my university, but this is not an AD, I just loved the book.
It was my first jump into prose poetry and as someone who has only just become interested in poetry as a whole, I loved exploring something new.
It took a while to get through but each page was worth it.
Would 100% recommend to a friend
It was my first jump into prose poetry and as someone who has only just become interested in poetry as a whole, I loved exploring something new.
It took a while to get through but each page was worth it.
Would 100% recommend to a friend
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews