Difference between poetry and prose?

[billy]

O...M....G...If I wasn't intimated before, I certainly am now. I thought there was a distinct definition for "poetry" and "prose" (I don't even know what "verse" is). After all these answers, it looks like a subjective distinction.

i think prose is one of the intangible things that sometimes depends on who's doing the reading

I didn't know what any of those poetic vices were. It seems that even daily speech could be categorized as poetry. Who doesn't speak without using figurative language or metaphor?

devices. alot of them can be found here. it's the old art thing, i don't what art is bit i know what i like. while some prose has poetic devices. it has to have a certain something to separate it into being a poem. (i think)

Todd's is pretty much the only answer I could understand . It's the same for me--it's a feeling.

The writing I posted in the Miscellaneous Poetry section called Precarious Love is one that I might have called poetic prose: http://pigpenpoetry.com/Thread-Precarious-Love It is more poetic than many poems I read on here, but I actually still feel it to be prose...and yet I don't think it's prose, because it's not really a story, but an expression of an experience I had. What is it, actually?

i read the piece again and have to admit to seeing it as prose. enjoyable nonetheless, mainly due to the format and wordiness that's associated with prose.

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On the contrary, well written free verse uses a selection of poetic techniques and sonic devices -- and it must use them well, because there is no ready-made skeleton of form to hang it on. Without some structure developed by the poet, it just ends up a lump of occasionally-twitching flesh.

This, for example, is a delightfully gory bit of poetry I mean eeeeeewwwww!!!!
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