Poetry vs Prose

Ryman today said that prose wants to be invisible, poetry wants to be eternal, and I so couldn't agree more. Oh, I don't think that it always always always is true, but I think it's a general rule, that one reads prose for the story, and poetry for the words. Sure, I can quote a couple lines of prose, but much less than I can quote poetry: I think those lines of prose are poetic, but so what? What I remember is the story. I can quote you lines from "to his coy mistress" off the top of my head--"Had we worlds enough and time/ lady this coyness were no crime..." or Landis's "If Angels Ate Apples" but I don't remember paragraphs of a story, I remember plots and characters and interaction.

The language the story is in is invisible to me, as it should be. Good or bad, as I mentioned before, a line that pulls you out of the story pulls you out. Any break in the reader's attention, any time the reader notices, for example, that he's reading, is a chance you may lose their attention, a spot where they might notice that the dog wants out, or that they're hungry, or that they promised someone they'd pick them up at 5...It's a chance that the reader may put the story down, and more importantly, it's a chance that an editor will put the story down.

Meh

Just about made myself sick. Slept too long, walked too far, got too hot, ate more than I should have too quickly, and am now very grumpy.