Prose Poems and Sudden Fictions

Don Precosky teaches English at the College of New Caledonia and is the
co-editor of Four Realities: Poets of Northern B.C.

This anthology of “prose poems, sudden fictions, short-shorts, and
flash fiction” contains works by 31 writers; among them are such
well-known veterans as Bert Almon, Roo Borson, Mary Di Michele, Gary
Geddes, and Ken Norris. Short pieces of this sort are like
popcorn—they either explode into something fragrant and delicious, or
they misfire and lie there.

Among the fragrant and delicious morsels here are “Happy Birthday,”
by M.A.C. Farrant; “the poetess in late afternoon underwear” and
“hid out in the covers,” by Golda Fried; “Barrier of Dreams / Gate
of Ivory,” by Bert Almon; “There’s this guy, Quentin Tarantino,”
by Todd Swift; and “The Story That Changes Everything,” by Ken
Norris.

Swift’s prose piece is a particularly marvellous rant—a perfect
imitation of the manic conversational style Tarantino unleashes when he
appears on talk shows. Norris’s wonderful preface convinces us that
the story we never get to read really is the story that changes
everything.