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Quote by Sharon Olds

“My poems - I don't even like the sound of that, in a way. Not that anyone else wrote them. But we know that only people who are really close to us care about our personal experience.”

Quote by Sharon Olds

Author

Sharon Olds is a renowned American contemporary poet, born on November 19, 1942. Her poetry is known for its straightforward and candid style, often exploring themes of love, family, and death through personal experiences. more

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“Maybe we can use a metaphor for it, out of dance. I think for many years I was aware of the need, in dance and in life, to breathe deeply and to take in more air than we usually take in.”

Thinking Needs Years Use Air Metaphor Breathe

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“Many poets write books. They'll tell you: Well, I've got my next book, but there are two poems I need to write, one about x, one about y. This is a wonder to me.”

Needs Writing Wells Two Book Next Wonder Poet

Author:Sharon Olds

“The amount of horror one used to hear about in one village could be quite extreme. But one might not have heard about all the other villages' horrors at the same time.”

Might Used Heard Amount Horror Extremes Village

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“To me, the mind seems to be spread out in the whole body - the senses are part of the brain. I guess they're not where the thinking is done.”

Thinking Mind Done Whole Body Seems Brain Spread Senses

Author:Sharon Olds

“This creature of the poem may assemble itself into a being with its own centrifugal force.”

May Force Creatures

Author:Sharon Olds

“We're all taking on too much, we're all asking too much of ourselves. We're all wishing we could do more, and therefore just doing more.”

Wish Too Much Asking Asking Too Much

Author:Sharon Olds

“Who wants to put together something that will bear some relationship to the vision or memory or experience or story or idea or dream or whatever.”

Want Ideas Stories Dream Together Memories Vision Bears

Author:Sharon Olds

“Well, one thing I'm really interested in, when I'm writing, is being accurate.”

Writing Wells One Thing Accurate

Author:Sharon Olds

“When I quit all these things and said I didn't have any time, I meant I didn't have any time.”

Said Quitting I Quit

Author:Sharon Olds

“Poems come from ordinary experiences and objects, I think. Out of memory - a dress I lent my daughter on her way back to college; a newspaper photograph of war; a breast self-exam; the tooth fairy; Calvinist parents who beat up their children; a gesture of love; seeing oneself naked over age 50 in a set of bright hotel bathroom mirrors.”