I do dearly love the idea of this node.
Prose? Poetry? Both?
Does it really matter? Words all, no?
My choice for most poetic Hemingway comes from pages 49 and 50 of The Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway's most lyrical, and most seemingly effortless, work.
Poetry indeed.
He remembered the time
he had hooked one
of a pair
of marlin.
The male fish always let
the female fish feed first
and the hooked fish
the female
made a wild
panic-stricken
despairing fight
that soon exhausted her
and all the time the male had stayed with her
crossing the line and circling with her on the surface.
He had stayed so close
the old man was afraid
he would cut the line
with his tail which was
sharp as a scythe and
almost of that size and shape.
When the old man had
gaffed her and
clubbed her
holding the rapier bill with its sandpaper edge and
clubbing her across the top of her head until
her colour turned to a colour almost
like the backing of mirrors
and then
with the boy’s aid
hoisted her aboard
the male fish had stayed by the side of the boat.
Then, while the old man was
clearing the lines and
preparing the harpoon
the male fish jumped high
into the air beside the boat
to see where the female was
and then went down deep
his lavender wings
that were his pectoral fins
spread wide and
all his wide lavender stripes showing.
He was beautiful, the old man remembered
and he had stayed.
That was the saddest thing
I ever saw with them
the old man thought.
The boy was sad too and
we begged her pardon and
butchered her promptly.