Collaboration, Conversation and Adaptation: The Prose Poetry Project and Renga Attitude

In the Western tradition, poetic collaboration has more often been a matter of intertextual references than shared activity resulting in a single poem authored by two or more poets. The Japanese poetry tradition is more directed towards the conversational, collaborative mode of practice, in particular the renga form, the attitude of which has been adopted by some Western poets in recent years. This chapter begins by setting out the context for collaboration and conversation in Western poetry, including the genealogical lines of poetic form and practice that appear across history and cultures. It moves then to address the adoption and adaptation of a renga-like mode of practice among prose poets. Drawing on the Prose Poetry Project experiment, it discusses ways in which the prose poem form can facilitate the production of independent and collaborative writing, and expand its affordances for thought and image.