“I'm all in favor of poets telling about the process as much as they can. And many do.” Quote by Pattiann Rogers
“It sounds old-fashioned to say, but we have some kind of purpose for being here, not poets or writers, but all of us humans.” HumansKindPurposeSoundPoetOld Fashioned Author:Pattiann Rogers
“The poem is a process, a way for me to discover questions, to ask them clearly or to discover the results of certain suppositions. Suppositions are a form of questioning.” WayFormCertainAsksProcessResultsQuestioningSupposition Author:Pattiann Rogers
“I'm primarily a poet, so I'd have to say in my case I'd investigate the mystery in poetry in a different way than prose might investigate it, in a way that includes the power of the music of language and maybe more imaginatively in poetry, but I don't really know about better or worse. I guess it depends on the writer.” KnowsWayDifferentMightLanguageCasesMysteryPoetDependsDifferent WaysProse Author:Pattiann Rogers
“I like poetry because poetry - even in free verse - is formal, and it has to be very concise and packed and rich, and I like the feeling of having to do that, having to make the language tight and still free, as if the deepest freedom is created by the restrictions.” IfsStillsFeelingsLanguageRichPoetry IsVersesFormalRestrictionConciseFree Verse Author:Pattiann Rogers
“In poetry I can let the language go, allow an image that seems out of place to enter and see what happens, always listening to the music that's being created, just like the world around us, never predictable, always shifting and intertwining, reflecting and echoing itself.” WorldI CanSeemsHappensLanguageListeningShiftingReflectingPredictable Author:Pattiann Rogers
“I love the language. I'm just totally fascinated by the sound and the look of words and the kinds of cadences you can create with them, the various kinds of music.” LooksKindLanguageSoundVariousFascinatedCadence Author:Pattiann Rogers
“Poetry is so close to music, not just in cadence and sound but in silences. That's why, to me, I can't talk about prose poems. I can talk about poetic prose.” I CanSoundSilenceProsePoetry IsPoeticCadence Author:Pattiann Rogers
“For me, prose is never a poem. Because with prose there are so very few tools to create the music. And one of the most important tools missing is the ability to create silences, as you can in poetry by how you fashion the lines and breaks within the lines and stanzas.” ImportantLinesAbilitySilenceBreakFashionMissingToolsProse Author:Pattiann Rogers
“Often I'm struck by something that I read; then I go and research it a little more, especially if I begin a poem, and I find out that I need to know more. Then I usually get intrigued and excited about whatever it is I'm writing about.” IfsKnowsNeedsWritingLittlesResearchExcitedIntrigued Author:Pattiann Rogers
“We're all vulnerable in our various ways, and what we are physically, our bodies, is what has developed with the goal of keeping that life safe and intact, at least until we have procreated. That's what our bodies are, the protection of life.” WayBodyGoalSafeVariousProtectionVulnerable Author:Pattiann Rogers