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Poem Quotes

The first poem I ever wrote, about loss, when I was 5 years old, expressed the themes of everything I would ever write Picture Quote #1

When I start writing a poem, I don’t think about models or about what anybody else in the world has done Picture Quote #1

I am no poet, but if you think for yourselves, as I proceed, the facts will form a poem in your minds Picture Quote #1

He has turned defensive boxing into a poetic art. Trouble is, nobody ever knocked anybody out with a poem Picture Quote #1

The capacity for imaginative reflex, for moral risk in any human being is not limitless; on the contrary, it can be rapidly absorbed by fictions, and thus the cry in the poem may come to sound louder, more urgent, more real than the cry in the street outside. The death in the novel may move us more potently than the death in the next room. Thus there may be a covert, betraying link between the cultivation of aesthetic response and the potential of personal inhumanity Picture Quote #1

The writing of a poem is like a child throwing stones into a mineshaft. You compose first, then you listen for the reverberation Picture Quote #1

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How often might a man, after he had jumbled a set of letters in a bag, fling them out upon the ground before they would fall into an exact poem, yea, or so much as make a good discourse in prose? And may not a little book be as easily made by chance as this great volume of the world? Picture Quote #1

To a man who is uncorrupt and properly constituted, woman always remains something of a mystery and a romance. He never interprets her quite literally. She, on her part, is always striving to remain a poem, and is never weary of bringing out new editions of herself in novel bindings Picture Quote #1

If you can say the lyrics almost like a poem and they stand up, that’s a great thing. Some songs have great lyrics and I don’t like the melodies, and vice versa Picture Quote #1

I don’t see that a single line can constitute a stanza, although it can constitute a whole poem Picture Quote #1

If you have a good story idea, don’t assume it must form a prose narrative. It may work better as a play, a screenplay or a poem. Be flexible Picture Quote #1

A poem is an invitation to a voyage. As in life, we travel to see fresh sights Picture Quote #1

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Words are what sticks to the real. We use them to push the real, to drag the real into the poem. They are what we hold on with, nothing else. They are as valuable in themselves as rope with nothing to be tied to Picture Quote #1

You should always be trying to write a poem you are unable to write, a poem you lack the technique, the language, the courage to achieve. Otherwise you’re merely imitating yourself, going nowhere, because that’s always easiest Picture Quote #1

All they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with a rope and torture a confession out of it. They begin beating it with a hose to find out what it really means Picture Quote #1

Every poem is an infant labored into birth and I am drenched with sweating effort, tired from the pain and hurt of being a man, in the poem I transform myself into a woman Picture Quote #1

I began composing the next poem, the one that was to be written next. Not the last poem of those I had read, but the poem written in the head of someone who may never have existed but who had certainly written another poem nonetheless, and just never had the chance to commit it to ink and the page Picture Quote #1

The poem has a social effect of some kind whether or not the poet wills it to have. It has a kenetic force, it sets in motion... elements in the reader that would otherwise remain stagnant Picture Quote #1

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Every poem I write falls short in some important way. But I go on trying to write the one that won’t Picture Quote #1

Out there people are working and arguing and laughing, living their beautiful, terrible lives, falling in love and having babies and being bored out of their skulls and feeling depressed, then being consoled by some little thing like watching the patterns the light makes through the leaves of trees, casting shadows on the sidewalks. I remember the line from that poem now. Downward to darkness, on extended wings Picture Quote #1

Every day, a piece of music, a short story, or a poem dies because its existence is no longer justified in our time. And things that were once considered immortal have become mortal again, no one knows them anymore. Even though they deserve to survive Picture Quote #1

When composing a verse let there not be a hair’s breath separating your mind from what you write; composition of a poem must be done in an instant, like a woodcutter felling a huge tree or a swordsman leaping at a dangerous enemy Picture Quote #1

You can tell it’s a poem because it’s swimming in a little gel pack of white space. That shows it’s a poem Picture Quote #1

That I am your heart’s secret fills me with song. I wish I could sing of you here in my cage. You are my heart’s hidden poem. I reread you, memorize you every moment we’re apart Picture Quote #1

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One is seduced and battered in turn. The result is presumably wisdom. Wisdom! We are clinging to life like lizards. Why is it so difficult to assemble those things that really matter in life and to dwell among them only? I am referring to certain landscapes, persons, beasts, books, rooms, meteorological conditions, fruits. In fact, I insist on it. A letter is like a poem, it leaps into life and shows very clearly the marks, perhaps I should say thumbprints, of an unwilling or unready composer Picture Quote #1

If poets often commit suicide, it is not because their poems are bad but because they are good. Whoever heard of a bad poet committing suicide? The reader is only a little better off. The exhilaration of a good poem lasts twenty minutes, an hour at most. Unlike the scientist, the artist has reentry problems that are frequent and catastrophic Picture Quote #1

When people look at my pictures I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice Picture Quote #1

I always tell my writing students that every good piece of writing begins with both a mystery and a love story. And that every single sentence must be a poem. And that economy is the key to all good writing. And that every character has to have a secret Picture Quote #1

A poem doesn’t come out and tell you what it has to say. It circles back on itself, eating its own tail and making you guess what it means Picture Quote #1

Such a small, pure object a poem could be, made of nothing but air a tiny string of letters, maybe small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. But it could blow everybody’s head off Picture Quote #1

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Friendship Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

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Text Quotes

The first poem I ever wrote, about loss, when I was 5 years old, expressed the themes of everything I would ever write (Poem Quotes) When I start writing a poem, I don’t think about models or about what anybody else in the world has done (Poem Quotes) I am no poet, but if you think for yourselves, as I proceed, the facts will form a poem in your minds (Poem Quotes) He has turned defensive boxing into a poetic art. Trouble is, nobody ever knocked anybody out with a poem (Poem Quotes) The capacity for imaginative reflex, for moral risk in any human being is not limitless; on the contrary, it can be rapidly absorbed by fictions, and thus the cry in the poem may come to sound louder, more urgent, more real than the cry in the street outside. The death in the novel may move us more potently than the death in the next room. Thus there may be a covert, betraying link between the cultivation of aesthetic response and the potential of personal inhumanity (Poem Quotes) The writing of a poem is like a child throwing stones into a mineshaft. You compose first, then you listen for the reverberation (Poem Quotes) How often might a man, after he had jumbled a set of letters in a bag, fling them out upon the ground before they would fall into an exact poem, yea, or so much as make a good discourse in prose? And may not a little book be as easily made by chance as this great volume of the world? (Poem Quotes) To a man who is uncorrupt and properly constituted, woman always remains something of a mystery and a romance. He never interprets her quite literally. She, on her part, is always striving to remain a poem, and is never weary of bringing out new editions of herself in novel bindings (Poem Quotes) If you can say the lyrics almost like a poem and they stand up, that’s a great thing. Some songs have great lyrics and I don’t like the melodies, and vice versa (Poem Quotes) I don’t see that a single line can constitute a stanza, although it can constitute a whole poem (Poem Quotes) If you have a good story idea, don’t assume it must form a prose narrative. It may work better as a play, a screenplay or a poem. Be flexible (Poem Quotes) A poem is an invitation to a voyage. As in life, we travel to see fresh sights (Poem Quotes) Words are what sticks to the real. We use them to push the real, to drag the real into the poem. They are what we hold on with, nothing else. They are as valuable in themselves as rope with nothing to be tied to (Poem Quotes) You should always be trying to write a poem you are unable to write, a poem you lack the technique, the language, the courage to achieve. Otherwise you’re merely imitating yourself, going nowhere, because that’s always easiest (Poem Quotes) All they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with a rope and torture a confession out of it. They begin beating it with a hose to find out what it really means (Poem Quotes) Every poem is an infant labored into birth and I am drenched with sweating effort, tired from the pain and hurt of being a man, in the poem I transform myself into a woman (Poem Quotes) I began composing the next poem, the one that was to be written next. Not the last poem of those I had read, but the poem written in the head of someone who may never have existed but who had certainly written another poem nonetheless, and just never had the chance to commit it to ink and the page (Poem Quotes) The poem has a social effect of some kind whether or not the poet wills it to have. It has a kenetic force, it sets in motion... elements in the reader that would otherwise remain stagnant (Poem Quotes) Every poem I write falls short in some important way. But I go on trying to write the one that won’t (Poem Quotes) Out there people are working and arguing and laughing, living their beautiful, terrible lives, falling in love and having babies and being bored out of their skulls and feeling depressed, then being consoled by some little thing like watching the patterns the light makes through the leaves of trees, casting shadows on the sidewalks. I remember the line from that poem now. Downward to darkness, on extended wings (Poem Quotes) Every day, a piece of music, a short story, or a poem dies because its existence is no longer justified in our time. And things that were once considered immortal have become mortal again, no one knows them anymore. Even though they deserve to survive (Poem Quotes) When composing a verse let there not be a hair’s breath separating your mind from what you write; composition of a poem must be done in an instant, like a woodcutter felling a huge tree or a swordsman leaping at a dangerous enemy (Poem Quotes) You can tell it’s a poem because it’s swimming in a little gel pack of white space. That shows it’s a poem (Poem Quotes) That I am your heart’s secret fills me with song. I wish I could sing of you here in my cage. You are my heart’s hidden poem. I reread you, memorize you every moment we’re apart (Poem Quotes) One is seduced and battered in turn. The result is presumably wisdom. Wisdom! We are clinging to life like lizards. Why is it so difficult to assemble those things that really matter in life and to dwell among them only? I am referring to certain landscapes, persons, beasts, books, rooms, meteorological conditions, fruits. In fact, I insist on it. A letter is like a poem, it leaps into life and shows very clearly the marks, perhaps I should say thumbprints, of an unwilling or unready composer (Poem Quotes) If poets often commit suicide, it is not because their poems are bad but because they are good. Whoever heard of a bad poet committing suicide? The reader is only a little better off. The exhilaration of a good poem lasts twenty minutes, an hour at most. Unlike the scientist, the artist has reentry problems that are frequent and catastrophic (Poem Quotes) When people look at my pictures I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice (Poem Quotes) I always tell my writing students that every good piece of writing begins with both a mystery and a love story. And that every single sentence must be a poem. And that economy is the key to all good writing. And that every character has to have a secret (Poem Quotes) A poem doesn’t come out and tell you what it has to say. It circles back on itself, eating its own tail and making you guess what it means (Poem Quotes) Such a small, pure object a poem could be, made of nothing but air a tiny string of letters, maybe small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. But it could blow everybody’s head off (Poem Quotes)

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