A great deal is lost, actually -- for once, in such a Tuesday Poem -- by presenting it in a "prose" format. This poem has something fundamental in common with biblical Hebrew "prose", which many biblical scholars (including many of the author's fellow Jews) realize is a misleading term. Very little in Hebrew Scripture is not poetry, however much it may be mistaken for what we call prose in English.

There is a difference between prose and narrative. This is narrative poetry, not narrative prose, and the reason it is poetry has to do with the combination of rhythmic cadence, the euphony, the visual beauty and the syntax. All these are best brought out to the eye in just the way the poet laid out the text. Ms. Ehrenberg is thinking like a Jew, I suspect (I mean in the sense of being familiar with the background of her own people's literature, ancient and modern).

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