“I'm primarily a poet, so I'd have to say in my case I'd investigate the mystery in poetry in a different way than prose might investigate it, in a way that includes the power of the music of language and maybe more imaginatively in poetry, but I don't really know about better or worse. I guess it depends on the writer.” KnowsWayDifferentMightLanguageCasesMysteryPoetDependsDifferent WaysProse Author:Pattiann Rogers
“Poetry is so close to music, not just in cadence and sound but in silences. That's why, to me, I can't talk about prose poems. I can talk about poetic prose.” I CanSoundSilenceProsePoetry IsPoeticCadence Author:Pattiann Rogers
“For me, prose is never a poem. Because with prose there are so very few tools to create the music. And one of the most important tools missing is the ability to create silences, as you can in poetry by how you fashion the lines and breaks within the lines and stanzas.” ImportantLinesAbilitySilenceBreakFashionMissingToolsProse Author:Pattiann Rogers
“I do love writing prose interspersed with the poetry of other people. Their rhythms break into my prose and create a connection.” PeopleWritingBreakConnectionsRhythmProse Author:Pattiann Rogers
“My object when writing prose is to write as clearly as possible. I think I know what I'm saying in prose, and I want others to understand it and to be able to restate it.” ThinkingKnowsWantWritingAbleObjectsProse Author:Pattiann Rogers
“I approach writing a poem in a much different state than when I am writing prose. It's almost as if I were working in a different language when I'm writing poetry. The words - what they are and what they can become - the possibilities of the words are vastly expanded for me when I'm writing a poem.” IfsWritingDifferentStatesLanguagePossibilityApproachProseWriting PoetryDifferent Languages Author:Pattiann Rogers
“I'd rather call prose poems something else, for clarity - something like "poetic prose," prose that contains a quality of poetry, but not poems.” QualityClarityProsePoetic Author:Pattiann Rogers
“To my mind, most prose poems are more prose than poetry. They don't possess most of the qualities of a poem.” MindQualityProse Author:Pattiann Rogers
“One of the most important differences I see between prose and poetry is the music of the language.” ImportantLanguageDifferencesProsePoetry IsProse And Poetry Author:Pattiann Rogers
“I think my prose - mine and that of others - sometimes slips into a cadence or rhythm that can replicate or come close to the music in a wonderful poem, and then it returns to the sound of prose.” ThinkingSometimesSoundWonderfulMinesReturnRhythmProseSlipsCadenceReplicate Author:Pattiann Rogers
“The silences express so much and are so crucial in music, and prose does not allow for the creation of these silences, these white spaces on the page or the computer screen.” DoeSpaceWhiteSilenceCreationComputerPagesScreensProseCrucialComputer ScreenWhite Space Author:Pattiann Rogers
“Poetry is very playful with language. I think all poetry, at its heart, is playful. It's doing unusual and playful things with the language, stirring it up. And prose is not doing that. Primarily it's not attempting to do that.” ThinkingHeartLanguageProsePoetry IsUnusualAttemptingStirring Author:Pattiann Rogers
