“I always thought that writing poetry was in itself a political act.” WritingPoliticalWriting Poetry Author:John Ashbery
“So writing about love or having it infuse the poems that I'm writing has never been something I've set myself to do, except when I write a poem for my wife, for an occasion, such as our anniversary.” WritingWifeMy Wife Author:Ron Padgett
“It's fun to have a crush on somebody, even one that lasts only fifteen seconds. In New York I can go down the street and have a crush on somebody coming toward me, and then she walks by and the crush disappears. It's quite pleasant.” FunDisappearCrush Author:Ron Padgett
“Working with artists and other poets has made me aware that there was a bigger "me" that I hadn't been quite aware of. Plus we had a good time. It's so much fun to write, for example, with a big brush on a giant piece of paper and to help create visually attractive and surprising objects, which is not what you normally do when you're writing a poem. It's wonderful to create these pieces with artists.” WritingHelpingArtistFunWonderfulPoetAttractiveGood TimesHad A Good Time Author:Ron Padgett
“It seems more than likely that the translating of poetry is going to rub off on the translator if he or she is a poet.” PoetPoetry IsTranslateTranslators Author:Ron Padgett
“Collaborating with someone who doesn't understand your language nor you theirs stretches you open even wider, into a sort of very large free fall.” FallLanguage Author:Ron Padgett
“Part of the pleasure of giving a reading comes from the rapport between the audience and the poet. I don't want to get mystical here, but there's an energy flow that begins with the poet, and the energy goes out to the audience, and they're energized, and then they return that energy to the poet. As someone standing up there alone, facing these people, I can feel that rapport (or its absence).” PeopleGivingReadingEnergyPleasureAudiencePoetAbsenceMysticalRapport Author:Ron Padgett
“I think the problem for the future generations is a lot of people ain't takin' the time to look for galvanizing artists and give them their voice, so therefore for their voice to be heard, they gotta bang more pots on the ceiling, so to speak; they gotta do crazy things just to get recognized. I just feel that whenever you don't give a generation some kind of voice, then expect side effects.” PeopleThinkingGivingKindProblemArtistSpeakCrazyPotFuture Generation Author:Chuck D
“There was a time when people would go search out underground records. Now, underground means free, and people don't really care for it. So now artists tend to go more pop and look for the radio. You know, the radio never wanted you to speak about anything, so the music is kinda influenced by the hands of the radio which wants to homogenize it and dilute it and sanitize it. And for the most part, nobody's takin' the time to seek out the cats that are still tryin' to talk, so they have a difficult time being heard, like Chuck D said.” PeopleMeanCareArtistSpeakDifficultMusic IsCatDifficult TimesChuck Author:Ice T