Defining where one academic discipline or artistic genre starts, and where the next begins, can be a difficult task for any academic, critic or practitioner. Sometimes a creative approach to defining these boundaries can be—if not categorically helpful—satisfying and enjoyable in other ways.

THE DIFFERENCE

by Emily Ruppel
 
They want from me
the difference
between poetry
and prose.
For once, a simple
taxonomic game!
I tell my students:

You may trust Prose
to signal major
movements well before
they're ever made.
No abrupt turns
of scene or
argument. A civil
(if not pragmatic!) raconteur.

Not so with wily
and self-surprising Poem
known for its
kidnappings and
too-long-untreated
(some would say)
bipolar disorder.

Notice now how
in your hand the warm
clay mug
of bitter milk cools
as you stand contemplating
whether to go along with
or reject
this proposition.

Midnight
in Sri Lanka,
petals
of snow on
the hard dark ground.

Emily Ruppel is a PhD student in communication at the University of Pittsburgh, with focus areas in rhetoric of science, bioethics, STS, feminist theory, and oral history.

Prior to her doctoral work, Emily studied poetry at Bellarmine University in Louisville (B.A. '08) and science writing at MIT (M.S. '11). She has spent many years working as a professional writer and editor for academic and popular outlets; among them, God & Nature magazine is a favorite project.