Craft: Russell Edson

This craft piece was suggested by Tracey Knapp. If you have a suggestion for a topic, please suggest one here:

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Russell Edson (1935-2014) was a master of the slippery form, the prose poem, which he defined as: “a statement that seeks sanity whilst its author teeters on the edge of the abyss.” Edson’s prose poems use elements of Surrealism—the unnerving or illogical—with dark humor and psychological textures. They offer a respite from reality even as they provide clarity into parts of experience that have no language to describe them.

Russell Edson in the process of teetering on the edge

Edson also described the prose poem as: “A cast-iron airplane that can actually fly, mainly because its pilot doesn’t seem to care if it does or not.”

He began publishing poetry in the 1950s and his last book, See Jack, was published in 2009. He was never marginal, but nor was he mainstream. Edson was very specific in his choice of working in-between forms and spaces: