“For me, intuitive thinking means associative thinking; intuition causes us to introduce narrative or figurative elements into a poem before we're able to explain why those elements belong.” ThinkingMeanAbleCausesElementsIntuitionNarrativeIntroducingIntuitive Author:James Arthur
“It's not realistic to imagine that any poem will last forever. Our species won't last forever! We try to capture and preserve our impressions of reality because it's all going away: everything we think and remember, everything we've ever felt, everyone we love.” ThinkingTryingRealityLastsRememberFeltForeverImagineSpeciesImpressionPreservesGoing AwayCaptureRealisticImagine ThatRemembers Everything Author:James Arthur
“For me, poetry is a way of thinking, and like many poets, I'm driven by the idea of trying to find the impossible, perfect words: the words that will hold my subject.” ThinkingWayTryingIdeasPerfectImpossibleSubjectsPoetDrivenPoetry IsWay Of Thinking Author:James Arthur
“I don't think I'd ever get any better as a poet if I didn't push myself, very deliberately, to grow. My best poems surprise me, as they should, but I fight them at every turn, possibly just because I'm stubborn.” IfsThinkingShouldTurnsFightingGrowsPoetSurpriseStubbornSurprise MeBest Poem Author:James Arthur
“I try not to think in terms of what poems or poets should do. Most of us appreciate a wide diversity in music, in cooking, in movies, but in our own medium, poetry, we often fail to make allowances for tastes and projects other than our own.” ThinkingShouldTryingTermFailingPoetTasteDiversityProjectsAppreciateCookingWideMediumsAllowance Author:James Arthur
“I like poems that affect me emotionally and also provoke me to further, deeper thought. I enjoy challenge, but not, I think, for its own sake.” ThinkingEnjoyChallengesSakeDeeperProvoking Author:James Arthur
“Maybe because I can't even put together an IKEA desk, I've never been tempted to think of my own poems as built objects - but I do sometimes imagine them as mathematical constructs.” ThinkingI CanSometimesTogetherMy OwnImagineObjectsBuiltMathematicalDesksConstructsTemptedBecause I CanIkea Author:James Arthur
“I do consider myself Canadian, but I feel American, too. I've spent more than fifteen years in each of the two countries, so really I just think of myself as a dual citizen, which is what I am. Thankfully, I've never been forced to choose!” ThinkingCountry Author:James Arthur
“I can't read my poem "Distracted by an Ergonomic Bicycle" without thinking of Seattle, where the events of the poem took place, and I can't read "In Defense of the Semicolon" without thinking of Toronto - but why should that matter to anyone else? If another reader imagines "In Defense of the Semicolon" taking place in New Orleans, great.” ThinkingImagineDistractedBicycle Author:James Arthur
“I do own CDs by Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, and Joni Mitchell, but I don't think of them as being major influences on my writing.” ThinkingWritingInfluence Author:James Arthur
“It is hard to compare cultures without overgeneralizing, but I think a lot of American poetry has an assertiveness - an upbeat quality - that's less typical of Canadian poetry. Of course there are poets in both countries to whom that generalization does not apply. Speaking broadly, I'd describe Canadians as being a bit more reserved than Americans. Not less opinionated - just less direct.” ThinkingCountryCultureQualityPoetDirectCompareAssertivenessUpbeat Author:James Arthur
“I think that being mindful of your own biases tends to lead you into ambiguity, not clarity, and that following those ambiguities is the only way to approach the universal.” ThinkingClarityAmbiguity Author:James Arthur
“I believe strongly in what John Keats called negative capability: the trait or practice that allows a poet to remain in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact & reason. For Keats, William Shakespeare exemplified negative capability, and I do think it's extraordinary that for all the thousands of pages Shakespeare left behind, we really don't know much about Shakespeare's own personality or opinions.” ThinkingBelieveReasonI BelieveOpinionDoubtMysteryPoetPersonalityNegativeExtraordinaryUncertaintyCapabilityTraitsLeft Behind Author:James Arthur
“I don't think I did write any poems to fill narrative gaps. Not consciously, anyway. As much as possible, I try to discover my poems' subject matter through the act of writing, instead of deciding ahead of time what my poems will be about.” ThinkingWritingTrying Author:James Arthur
