"Boom! It's done!"

Thus spake Russell Edson last Wednesday at the New School, during a Q&A following his reading. He was referring to his writing process, which favors immediacy and concision.

"Brevity is a crucial element of the prose poem. The best poems are short." This last sentence was uttered at exactly 7:08 p.m. on 3/16/05, and will be a key element of my thesis (which, as you know, will focus on the virtues of short-form poetry).

I glanced over at my thesis advisor, one Mark Bibbins, and gave him the palms turned upward shrug - the international signal for "Well, that's that." I figure I could do much worse than having Russell Edson's sign-off on the matter.

"Boom! It's done!" Indeed.