“Galway Kinnell came out with that wonderful big, breathy, hollow voice of his and read, for the first time in public, "The Bear." That poem impressed me so much that I memorized it. I used it for years when I taught in prisons. It's a powerful extended metaphor for what the writing life is really all about. It's a uniquely powerful poem about self-transformation, and that's what we're asking, really, beyond even our objection to the war. We're asking people to look at themselves and think about what might be possible with a little self-transformation.” PeopleThinkingWritingYearsFirstsLooksLittlesWarSelfBigsMightLife IsUsedVoicePowerfulWonderfulTaughtBearsFirst TimeTransformationAskingPrisonMetaphorImpressedWriting LifeHollowObjectionsSelf Transformation Author:Sam Hamill
“I was a violent, self-destructive teenager, who was adopted right at the end of World War II. I was lied to and abused by my parents. I hated life in Utah. I resented the Mormon Church, its sense of superiority and its certitude. I escaped through the Beat writers and discovered poetry and have devoted my entire life to the practice of poetry in varying ways. Poetry gave me a reason for being. And I'm not exaggerating when I say that.” WorldWayWarEndsSelfReasonParentChurchPracticeBeatsViolentTeenagerHatedWar Of The WorldsDestructiveWorld War IiWorld War IDevotedSuperiorityAdoptedLiedSelf DestructiveUtahCertitudeExaggerating Author:Sam Hamill
“I think a lot of American poets are swimming-pool Soviets. A lot of them have taken the comfortable, self-protective route too often. I know that I certainly have. That's easy to do.” ThinkingKnowsSelfEasyTakenPoetComfortableSwimmingPoolRoutesProtectiveSwimming Pool Author:Sam Hamill
“One of the things I love about translation is it obliterates the self. When I'm trying to figure out what Tu Fu has to say, I have to kind of impersonate Tu Fu. I have to take on, if you will, his voice and his skin in English, and I have to try to get as deeply into the poem as possible. I'm not trying to make an equivalent poem in English, which can't be done because our language can't accommodate the kind of metaphors within metaphors the Chinese written language can, and often does, contain.” IfsTryingKindDoeSelfDoneLanguageVoiceWrittenFiguresSkinsMetaphorChineseTranslationsAccommodateThings I LoveWritten LanguageImpersonate Author:Sam Hamill
