My prose poem assignments are going better than I expected! During the day a word comes to me, and I think, That should be my next definition. Today’s word (term, really, because I don’t want to be exclusive) was “rough trade.”

So far, I’ve written poems about the following words: Offered, Prisoners, Pupil, Crisis, Dietrichesque, and Fulfillment.

My tone is shifting. These poems are much more conversational and directly address the reader (or seem to). They also seem to be more political in tone and are especially concerned with issues of class.

In my last ms., I know I was really concerned with finding an “organic stanza,” getting out of writing in the mode of stanzas of equal length (which, right now, irritates me). I was concerned with reducing language, finding a true economy of language in the lines. It makes sense to me, then, that I’ve done a 180 and looked for a stanza-less form, so to speak.

I can only change so many things at once. I can only explore, in detail, even fewer.

And today I drew the important conclusion that there can never be such thing as “non-narrative.”