A friend and I were discussing a most distressing (to us anyway) trend in the popular writing of today. Most all of the writing that people enjoy to do and gush over when they read is completely lacking in structure. It is a stream of consciousness-style outpouring of ideas. They jot down their scrambled thoughts and slap a title on them and think they are the next Kerouac (what a grand delusion that is. Kerouac was great because he was one of the originals. Once your writing style of choice has a "neo-" in front of it you aren't likely to be remembered for writing that way...)
It makes for an interesting read , to be sure, but it lacks that final punch that deliberate writing has. Reading "Spontaneous Prose" can paint an eclectic picture in your mind, but only at parts. Words and phrases grip you and can take you to unimaginable heights, but nothing like the power of structured prose and poetry.
Not to say that there isn't plenty of prose that follows a structure that doesn't have any emotional appeal at all. The goal would be to mingle the two styles together, to harness the raw emotion of spontaneous prose and deliver it just where it is needed.
Consider for a moment Gwendolyn Brooks's powerhouse "We Real Cool." In eight lines she sums up her feelings about the youth of her time, while at the same time creating a rhythm and a structure that highlights her point. It packs an emotional punch and still has an extraordinary economy. She maintains a masterful control over her words and makes every one count. There isn't a single wasted syllable or a solitary wasted beat. There is the truest essence of writing.
It is truly a shame that so much of today's writing is a giant circle jerk of academics with the readers being the ones to eat the cookie at the end.
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It's tough to match "We sing sin/We thin gin." I agree with you. A lot of the sponaneous prose/stream-of-conciousness pieces read more like unfinished journal entries playing around with language. Nothing wrong with playing a bit with words, but ultimately there needs to be structure because we crave it.
Kerouac was great because he did it first. It's not cutting-edge anymore. As for the giant "circle," start checking out some of the literary magazines and get back to us on that again. You might be right.
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