--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I let my narrative embroidering impulses…" description: "\"I let my narrative embroidering impulses take over in prose poems.\" — Matthea Harvey" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/150/matthea-harvey-10757_impulse_i-let-my-narrative-embroidering-impulses_285977.jpg" --- # I let my narrative embroidering impulses take over in… ![“I let my narrative embroidering impulses take over in prose poems.” quote by Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/150/matthea-harvey-10757_impulse_i-let-my-narrative-embroidering-impulses_285977.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/150/matthea-harvey-10757_impulse_i-let-my-narrative-embroidering-impulses_285977.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/150/matthea-harvey-10757_impulse_i-let-my-narrative-embroidering-impulses_285977.jpg) > “I let my narrative embroidering impulses take over in prose poems.” [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The poet allows creative impulses to dominate the structure of prose poems, weaving narrative threads throughout. **In simple terms:** Creative urges shape prose poetry. Key Takeaway Embrace instinctive storytelling. Themes creativity poetry expression Mood reflective inspired Type artistic literary When to use this quote - writing workshops - personal journals - experimental literature Key Concepts narrative weaving spontaneity Questions to Reflect On - How does impulse guide your writing? - When to edit instinct? A Different Perspective May lack coherence without editing. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Narrative](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/narrative/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Prose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prose/) [Storytelling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/storytelling/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [“What does it mean, this notion of...reading? ...it returns us to a reckoning with time. In the midst of a book, we have no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-l-ulin/what-does-it-mean-this-notion-of-reading-it-returns-us-to-a-reckoning/) [David L. Ulin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-l-ulin/) > [I'd rather call prose poems something else, for clarity - something like "poetic prose," prose that contains a quality of poetry, but not poems.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pattiann-rogers/i-d-rather-call-prose-poems-something-else-for-clarity-something-like/) [Pattiann Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pattiann-rogers/) > [I am interested in the confines of the page and busting through/off the page as well. A writer must let go of the line…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denise-duhamel/i-am-interested-in-the-confines-of-the-page-and-busting-through-off/) [Denise Duhamel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denise-duhamel/) > [What I like about prose poems is that they seem to make people uncomfortable - people want to define them, justify them, attack them.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/what-i-like-about-prose-poems-is-that-they-seem-to-make-people/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > [I don't see much difference between prose poems and flash fiction (I've often taught the latter as the former), but then I also don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/i-don-t-see-much-difference-between-prose-poems-and-flash-fiction-i/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > [There IS a difference between poetry and prose! Poems should be sonically charged and new to the ear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cate-marvin/there-is-a-difference-between-poetry-and-prose-poems-should-be/) [Cate Marvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cate-marvin/) > [“Prose Poems from my book SPAN OBSERVATION So, we may not be able to explain the world. Not exactly. But we can accept it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-woodman/prose-poems-from-my-book-span-observation-so-we-may-not-be-able-to/) [Jay Woodman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-woodman/) > [Peter Conners stunning prose poems are packed with keen sensitivity, dreaminess, and wit. I love his time travels, the vibrant layering of image and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-shihab-nye/peter-conners-stunning-prose-poems-are-packed-with-keen-sensitivity/) [Naomi Shihab Nye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-shihab-nye/) > [To my mind, most prose poems are more prose than poetry. They don't possess most of the qualities of a poem.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pattiann-rogers/to-my-mind-most-prose-poems-are-more-prose-than-poetry-they-don-t/) [Pattiann Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pattiann-rogers/) > [“If you must write prose or poems, the words you use should be your own. Don't plagiarize or take 'on loan'. There's always someone,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-you-must-write-prose-or-poems-the-words-you-use-should-be-your-own/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Poetry is so close to music, not just in cadence and sound but in silences. That's why, to me, I can't talk about prose…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pattiann-rogers/poetry-is-so-close-to-music-not-just-in-cadence-and-sound-but-in/) [Pattiann Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pattiann-rogers/) > [The poetry from the eighteenth century was prose; the prose from the seventeenth century was poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hare/the-poetry-from-the-eighteenth-century-was-prose-the-prose-from-the/) [David Hare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hare/) > [The aim of good prose words is to mean what they say. The aim of good poetical words is to mean what they do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/the-aim-of-good-prose-words-is-to-mean-what-they-say-the-aim-of-good/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [ “\[A\]lways get to the dialogue as soon as possible. I always feel the thing to go for is speed. Nothing puts the reader off… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/p-g-wodehouse/a-lways-get-to-the-dialogue-as-soon-as-possible-i-always-feel-the/) [P.G. Wodehouse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/p-g-wodehouse/) > [Histories never conclude; they just pause their prose. Their stories are, if they are truthful, untidy affairs, resistant to windings-up and sortings-out. They beat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/histories-never-conclude-they-just-pause-their-prose-their-stories/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) ## More by Matthea Harvey > [I don't think that you can say by any stretch of the imagination that all Wisconsin or Brooklyn-based poets write in a particular way.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/i-don-t-think-that-you-can-say-by-any-stretch-of-the-imagination-that/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > [Not everyone is going to like every carnival ride.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/not-everyone-is-going-to-like-every-carnival-ride/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > [I think poetry involves heightened noticing or imagining as well as creating a certain made shape. On the other hand, that shape can be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/i-think-poetry-involves-heightened-noticing-or-imagining-as-well-as/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > [When I get interested in a new topic I teach a class on it. There's a graduate seminar I teach in which the students…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/when-i-get-interested-in-a-new-topic-i-teach-a-class-on-it-there-s-a/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > ["Confessional poetry" is another one of those labels. It goes in and out of fashion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/confessional-poetry-is-another-one-of-those-labels-it-goes-in-and-out/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > [I don't think all poems need to be written in conversational language - those are often great poems but there should also be poems…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/i-don-t-think-all-poems-need-to-be-written-in-conversational-language/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > [When I have my students do erasures, I'm always amazed by the way their voice comes through, whether they're doing an erasure of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/when-i-have-my-students-do-erasures-i-m-always-amazed-by-the-way/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > [Whether you're talking about political borders or aesthetic divisions (and clearly, the political ones have much more tragic consequences), it seems like once they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/whether-you-re-talking-about-political-borders-or-aesthetic-divisions/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > [Usually form seems to find me in the process of writing a poem, though I have nothing against starting out with the form.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/usually-form-seems-to-find-me-in-the-process-of-writing-a-poem-though/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > [I'm pretty lenient with myself about time - if I feel like taking photographs of small things inside ice cubes or making animal collages,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/i-m-pretty-lenient-with-myself-about-time-if-i-feel-like-taking/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > [Recently, while I was in England, I saw a documentary on the BBC about the border between India and Pakistan at Wagah. When the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/recently-while-i-was-in-england-i-saw-a-documentary-on-the-bbc-about/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > [A lot of people are writing poems and don't realize it. They have this limited idea of how the poem should sound or what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/a-lot-of-people-are-writing-poems-and-don-t-realize-it-they-have-this/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > [I am pretty interested in hybrid forms. I love graphic novels and I think there should be more graphic poems in the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/i-am-pretty-interested-in-hybrid-forms-i-love-graphic-novels-and-i/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > [I suppose it's useful in designating writing that tends to come from personal experience, work that delineates an "I," but it's a loose lasso,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/i-suppose-it-s-useful-in-designating-writing-that-tends-to-come-from/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) > [There isn't a grand plan at work in the progression of the books with respect to the line. I do want the books to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/there-isn-t-a-grand-plan-at-work-in-the-progression-of-the-books-with/) [Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) [Explore all 63 Matthea Harvey quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/) ## More Impulse quotes > [Nothing brings out the lower traits of human nature like office-seeking. Men of good character and impulses are betrayed by it into all sorts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutherford-b-hayes/nothing-brings-out-the-lower-traits-of-human-nature-like-office/) [Rutherford B. Hayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutherford-b-hayes/) > [“Anything you fear is a shackle to ur soul. It is a phobia that tethers and blinds ur ability to see and comprehend your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bassey-johnson/anything-you-fear-is-a-shackle-to-ur-soul-it-is-a-phobia-that-tethers/) [Michael Bassey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bassey-johnson/) > [The odor of bowel wind is known to every human, but the fragrance of book glue has crossed only a fraction of mortal nostrils.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-odor-of-bowel-wind-is-known-to-every-human-but-the-fragrance-of/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The invention of gunpowder and the constant improvement of firearms are enough in themselves to show that the advance of civilization has done nothing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-von-clausewitz/the-invention-of-gunpowder-and-the-constant-improvement-of-firearms/) [Carl von Clausewitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-von-clausewitz/) > [Dialogue and education for peace can help free our hearts from the impulse toward intolerance and the rejection of others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daisaku-ikeda/dialogue-and-education-for-peace-can-help-free-our-hearts-from-the/) [Daisaku Ikeda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daisaku-ikeda/) > [When I was in my teens I had a series of intensely religious experiences. They deepened my sense of God as the creator of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-linzey/when-i-was-in-my-teens-i-had-a-series-of-intensely-religious/) [Andrew Linzey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-linzey/) > [Impulse arrested spills over, and the flood is feeling, the flood is passion, the flood is even madness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/impulse-arrested-spills-over-and-the-flood-is-feeling-the-flood-is/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) > [Young men have strong passions and tend to gratify them indiscriminately. Of the bodily desires, it is the sexual by which they are most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/young-men-have-strong-passions-and-tend-to-gratify-them/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [Where one person shapes their life by precept and example, there are a thousand who have shaped it by impulse and circumstances.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-russell-lowell/where-one-person-shapes-their-life-by-precept-and-example-there-are-a/) [James Russell Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-russell-lowell/) > [ No one suffers so much as he \[the genius\] with the people, and, therefore, for the people, with whom he lives. For, in a… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/otto-weininger/no-one-suffers-so-much-as-he-the-genius-with-the-people-and-therefore/) [Otto Weininger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/otto-weininger/) > [If we are to define science, ... it does not consist so much in knowing, nor even in "organized knowledge," as it does in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-sanders-peirce/if-we-are-to-define-science-it-does-not-consist-so-much-in-knowing/) [Charles Sanders Peirce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-sanders-peirce/) > [The young man shivered. He rolled the stock themes of fantasy over in his mind: cars and stockbrokers and commuters, housewives and police, agony…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/the-young-man-shivered-he-rolled-the-stock-themes-of-fantasy-over-in/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [Order is a prerequisite of survival; therefore the impulse to produce orderly arrangements is inbred by evolution.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudolf-arnheim/order-is-a-prerequisite-of-survival-therefore-the-impulse-to-produce/) [Rudolf Arnheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudolf-arnheim/) > [When we think carefully, we see that the brief elation we experience when appeasing sensual impulses may not be very different from what the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dalai-lama/when-we-think-carefully-we-see-that-the-brief-elation-we-experience/) [Dalai Lama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dalai-lama/) > [Adolescence is when the very worst and best impulses in the human soul struggle against each other for possession.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-stanley-hall/adolescence-is-when-the-very-worst-and-best-impulses-in-the-human/) [G. Stanley Hall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-stanley-hall/) Browse all 1,476 Impulse quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I let my narrative embroidering impulses take over in prose poems.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matthea Harvey" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/i-let-my-narrative-embroidering-impulses-take-over-in-prose-poems/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Impulse" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/i-let-my-narrative-embroidering-impulses-take-over-in-prose-poems/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/150/matthea-harvey-10757_impulse_i-let-my-narrative-embroidering-impulses_285977.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/150/matthea-harvey-10757_impulse_i-let-my-narrative-embroidering-impulses_285977.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/150/matthea-harvey-10757_impulse_i-let-my-narrative-embroidering-impulses_285977.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I let my narrative embroidering impulses take over in prose poems.” — Matthea Harvey", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Matthea Harvey", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I let my narrative embroidering impulses...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/i-let-my-narrative-embroidering-impulses-take-over-in-prose-poems/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/i-let-my-narrative-embroidering-impulses-take-over-in-prose-poems/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```