"Family Portrait doesn't just rewrite the history of the prose poem in America--it sets the record straight. Murphy's scholarly introduction sets the stage for a book that traces the history of American prose poetry from 1900--1950. Simply put, this collection belongs on every poet's--and poetry lover's--bookshelf. No one will be able to write about the prose poem without referencing Family Portrait."--Peter Conners The groundbreaking anthology of prose poetry collects over sixty voices including such well-known figures as Sherwood Anderson, William Lisle Bowles, Kay Boyle, e. e. cummings, H.D., Robert Duncan, T. S. Eliot, William Faulkner, Earnest Hemingway, Robert Lowell, Kenneth Patchen, Riding Jackson, Gertrude Stein, Jean Toomer, Thornton Wilder, and William Carlos Williams.
Robert Alexander is the co-editor of the Marie Alexander Poetry Series. He is the author of two books of poetry, White Pine Sucker River and What the Raven Said; and a book of creative nonfiction, Five Forks: Waterloo of the Confederacy. He previously served as an associate editor at New Rivers Press.
Table of ContentsEditor’s NoteMargueritte MurphyIntroduction: The Prose Poem as a Modernist GenreVirginia Admiral (1915-2000)The Escaped BearMargaret Anderson (1886-1973)Ocean AquariumLandscapeImagismToward RevolutionSherwood Anderson (1876-1941)The CornfieldsSong of the Soul of Chicago The Lame OneSisterHolly Beye (1922-2011)For the Singer That is Gone In the Eucalyptus Forest Faces in a Furious Night The Unremitting Stain The Release of Hostages Some New Notches with an Old Knife Paul Bowles (1910-1999)from No Village Kay Boyle (1902-1992)SummerJanuary 1, U.S.A.January 24, New Yorkfrom For An AmericanEmily Holmes Coleman (1899-1974)The Wren’s NestHarry Crosby (1898-1929)Embrace Me You SaidMosquitoOvid’s FleaI Had No Idea What They Would Do Next In Search of the Young Wizard Human Flesh and Golden ApplesWhite CloverGolden SpoonWhite SlipperE. E. Cummings (1894-1962)“i was sitting in mcsorley’s”“at the ferocious phenomenon of 5 o’clock”Harriet Dean (1892-1964)Debutante Barn-YardingDepartureH. D. (1886-1961)from Four Prose Choruses Robert Duncan (1919-1988)At Home Correspondences Source Unkingd by Affection Concerning the Maze T. S. Eliot (1888-1965)HysteriaThe EngineMary Fabill (1914-2011) The Morning LedThey in Whose DreamsThis Is the Day of FreedomPoemWilliam Faulkner (1897-1962)The Priest Frankie and Johnny The Cobbler Magdalen John Gould Fletcher (1886-1950)The Death of England The Secret of Mars The Way of Dust The End of JobCharles Henri Ford (1913-2002)Suite Flag of Ecstasy Message to Rimbaud Jane Heap (1883-1964)Sketches Paris at One TimeErnest Hemingway (1899-1961)from In Our TimeFenton Johnson (1888-1958)African NightsAmy Lowell (1874-1925)BathBreakfast Table WalkMidday and Afternoon Robert McAlmon (1896-1956)VillageFire BugThe Artificial LakePloughed Land History of the Early Twentieth Century History ProfessorKenneth Patchen (1911-1972)Polly—An Almost-True StoryFamily Portrait O What a RevolutionThere Are TwoWhen We Were Here TogetherA Pasturized SceneLaura Riding (1901-1991)William and Daisy: Fragment of a Finished NovelHungry to HearIn a CaféEdouard Roditi (1910-1992)MetamorphosisSéance Old Wives TaleHandfrom The Pathos of HistoryRobert Alden Sanborn (1877-1962)The Billiard Players At the EliteAlleys Gertrude Stein (1874-1946)A PianoIn BetweenA SoundSuppose An EyesA Long DressColored HatsA Substance in a CushionJean Toomer (1894-1967)Calling JesusRhobertKarintha Thornton Wilder (1897-1975)SentencesWilliam Carlos Williams (1883-1963)The Delicaciesfrom Kora in HellA MatisseTheessentialroarfrom For Bill BirdVerbal Transcription—6 A. M.The Pace that KillsExultation AfterwordContributors’ NotesSourcesAcknowledgments?