# Prose Poetry

> Prose Poetry

- Skill: `handsomeboy990/prose-poetry` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 4 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add handsomeboy990/prose-poetry`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/handsomeboy990/prose-poetry/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: Handsomeboy990 (https://skillmd.com/u/handsomeboy990)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/handsomeboy990/prose-poetry

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# Prose Poetry

The prose poem has no lines and no line breaks, but it obeys an internal
formal necessity. What distinguishes it from a fragment of narrative is that
it does not progress: it deepens.

## 1. Characteristics

- A compact block, usually five to thirty lines.
- No verse, no obligatory rhyme, but constant rhythmic work.
- Unity of tone, image or place.
- No plot. If there is a narrative, it is a pretext.
- Closure by displacement, never by conclusion.

## 2. What holds the text together

Since the line no longer supports it, four forces take over:

1. The rhythm of the sentence, with returning structures and varying lengths.
2. Unity of lexical field, held with discipline.
3. Sensory progression: the text changes perceptual register, from visual to
   aural, from aural to tactile.
4. The last sentence, which must open rather than close.

## 3. Writing

- Sentences of strongly contrasting lengths. A five-line sentence followed by
  a three-word one produces most of the effect.
- Repetition of a word or a structure every three or four sentences, used as
  scansion.
- The concrete dominates: objects, gestures, materials, prices, proper nouns.
- No commentary by the text on its own meaning.
- Punctuation is the only instrument of the cut: it is worked like a score.

## 4. Families

| Family | Principle |
|---|---|
| Notation | recording a place or an instant, with no intention |
| Brief fable | a tiny event tipping into the strange |
| Portrait | a person caught through their gestures and objects |
| Letter or address | an unnamed recipient, a withheld word |
| Inventory | a list that becomes a narrative by accumulation |

## 5. Traps

- Lyricism with no object.
- Narrative taking over and turning the text into a short story.
- Accumulated images with no sensory progression.
- The explanatory ending.
- Slack punctuation, which destroys the rhythm.

## 6. Procedure

1. Choose a single place, instant or object.
2. Write in one go, with no cuts.
3. Remove every abstraction and every commentary.
4. Work the sentence lengths by contrast.
5. Install a repetition, used three times.
6. Rewrite the last sentence at least five times.
7. Read aloud, adjust the punctuation.

## 7. Auto-critique

Score 0 to 5: rhythmic control, unity, sensory progression, concreteness,
quality of the closure, absence of invasive narrative, absence of commentary.

Threshold: no axis below 3, average at least 4 on rhythmic control and
closure.

## 8. Interfaces

- Upstream: `poet`.
- Neighbours: `poetry/free-verse`, `genres/magical-realism`.