Poetic novels, novelistic Poems:  Distant Star is a prose poem
If Martn Fierro is seen by Borges and Bolao as a novel in verse, could we not also see, Distant Star and By Night in Chile as poems in prose?  Where is the poetry in these worksform, content, style, etc.?  Why are poems and poets so central to both texts?  How does Bolaos, and Borges biographypoets first, prose writers secondinform your answer?  To answer these questions, you will need to define poetry as you and Bolao understand it.  Your quest should take you to emblematic passages that are particularly poetic as well as those are particularly prosaic.  Remember that prosaic often refers to the mundane and poetic to the elevated and sublime.