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The Floating Bridge: Prose Poems
"Vanquishes once and for all the notion that the prose poem is somehow inherently 'not a real poem.' Exhibits a sustained level of innate lyricism and imagism rarely seen even in conventional lyric free verse. Unfailingly, the little prose jewels in 'The Floating Bridge' exhibit the most fundamental property of fine each whole is many times greater than the sum of its parts."--Cider Press Review"Shumate's collection consists of over 50 gems...each one loaded with the living essence that hovers just beyond rationality's gate. [He] is a master of this forthright form. His book is a key to the room where dreams are stored."--Nuvo"I was deeply taken by David Shumate's The Floating Bridge. There is none better working now at this very difficult genre, the prose poem."--Jim Harrison
- GenresPoetry
91 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
May 12, 2010
This excellent book of prose poems - the best I've read since Morton Marcus' Moments Without Names - is the kind of poetry that stretches the reader's imagination. Unforgettable images are forged by the selection and use of words in these poems. Great book to introduce someone to prose poetry, or for someone who isn't convinced that prose poems matter.
April 30, 2013
I am generally not impressed by poetry that calls itself "prose," but I decided to branch out and see what I could find. In addition to a select few others, I discovered The Floating Bridge. While reading each poem, I would find myself balking at the notion that this was poetry until the very end...his ability to turn the poem on its head and make it spin was lovely. In a few of the poems, he also flew into the fantastic in the second or third syntactical structure and took me right along with him.
Definitely SLOWLY changing my mind about the possibility that some works can be both prose AND poetry (grudgingly....)
Definitely SLOWLY changing my mind about the possibility that some works can be both prose AND poetry (grudgingly....)
February 25, 2009
I like the conciseness of these prose poems. Witty without being obnoxious and allegorical without being confusing.
Favorites:
Metaphors
Wisdom
The Headless Saints
The Island of Nirvana
OM
Favorites:
Metaphors
Wisdom
The Headless Saints
The Island of Nirvana
OM
July 8, 2008
After reading laudatory blurbs penned by Jim Harrison and David Wojahn, I was not expecting these prose poems to indulge so deeply, but rather deliver far more than, the traditional ethos of the prose poem - i.e. self-consciously intellectual wit - so as admiring as I was of some individual poems, I wasn't entirely carried away.
August 31, 2014
Although nearly all of the poems started strong, a disappointing percentage ended with smug banality. I spent a lot of my reading time mildly disgruntled. However, this book will stay on my shelf because there were a couple poems I really loved, especially "Zero."
August 31, 2008
While a little uneven, the collection features several poems that are as good as any by masters like Edson.
February 8, 2009
Lovely and powerful prose poetry.
August 17, 2022
I enjoyed so many of these prose poems that I’m actually switching my rating to five stars from four. There were certainly some in here that I didn’t connect with, but looking back at them the next day, they really are wonderful. There is absurdity, delight, nostalgia, social criticism, memory, and more. There’s so much that makes these prose poems successful, but as a fan of the form, I have to say that one of the really great things is that they actually invite the reader in. Sometimes prose poetry can be so over the top that readers don’t know what to do with them (I’ve had this convo with my students several times), but I think Shumate manages to create a clear sense and frame for each poem even when he’s playing with what is real. An absolute pleasure to read.
August 27, 2018
One of my favorite poets, and a lovely and gracious human to boot!
July 2, 2008
I couldn't read this without constantly comparing it to his first book.
Both books are collections of prose poems but where High Water Mark creates a special, believable surreality out of the commonplace, the poems in The Floating Bridge are much less disparate. Each section in The Floating Bridge has a narrower scope than the poems in High Water Mark.
Although these poems are enjoyable and the book itself is excellently crafted (it's a much more focused meditation than his first book), I still found myself wanting the energy and excitement that filled High Water Mark.
Both books are collections of prose poems but where High Water Mark creates a special, believable surreality out of the commonplace, the poems in The Floating Bridge are much less disparate. Each section in The Floating Bridge has a narrower scope than the poems in High Water Mark.
Although these poems are enjoyable and the book itself is excellently crafted (it's a much more focused meditation than his first book), I still found myself wanting the energy and excitement that filled High Water Mark.
March 28, 2008
Some of the best prose poems I have read in a long time
February 2, 2010
A strong collection, if not quite as strong as his first - High Water Mark.
January 6, 2013
9,5/10
February 20, 2016
Charming and inventive, Shumate's prose poems spark the imagination.
November 29, 2016
I likely would have enjoyed this collection a great deal more if I read these poems on their own, discovered them one by one by two in the wild, but together, they dulled.
November 15, 2010
Most were enjoyable; a few were wonderful.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
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