The World Doesn't End (1989) is a collection of prose poems by Charles Simic.

[1] The collection begins with an epigraph from Fats Waller: "Let's waltz the Rumba.

"[2] The collection is divided into three parts of untitled prose poems, each ranging between two and five lines.

[3] Each poem is indicated in the collection's table of contents by the first several words of each poem: Part II Part III Some critics have credited The World Doesn't End with a resurgence of the prose poem form in American Poetry.

[3][4] Christopher Buckley argued that Simic chose the prose poem form because it most closely approximates the Eastern European folk tale.