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Quote by Alison Hawthorne Deming

“I'm always writing towards a discovery. When I'm writing poems in particular, I'm often writing because a few images coalesced in my mind and I thought, "I wonder why these images are abrading against each other. I wonder what happens if put them in a poem and explore them." I'm trying to learn something every time I write a poem.”

Quote by Alison Hawthorne Deming

Author

Alison Hawthorne Deming

Alison Hawthorne Deming is an accomplished American poet, born in 1946. Her poetry is characterized by its focus on natural themes and local history, and has garnered widespread acclaim from readers. more

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“I'm trying to learn something about making a balance between the inner life and the outer life. I wouldn't write if I didn't need to be making those discoveries, if I didn't feel the perpetual ignorance of being a human being.”

Ifs Needs Feels Writing Trying Humans Human Beings Ignorance Balance Discovery Perpetual Inner Life

Author:Alison Hawthorne Deming

“Poetry is a really helpful instrument. It's so physical; the musicality becomes a sort of expression of the body. The mind is there too, in the formal aspects of the poem. The emotions are there in the way the senses gather things into the poem.”

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“Poetry is one of the most full ways of discovering what it feels like to be a human being in this particular moment, in this particular set of concerns. It's all about discovery.”

Way Feels Humans Moments Human Beings Particular Discovery Concern Poetry Is Discovering

Author:Alison Hawthorne Deming

“A lot of times students will come up to me and say, "Well, I can't write because I don't know what I think about such-and-such." And I say, "That's why you have to write." You don't wait until you know, because then who cares - it's static.”

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Author:Alison Hawthorne Deming

“I'm always doing poems from a place of not-knowing, a place of ignorance in a way.”

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Author:Alison Hawthorne Deming

“I had real concerns about the relationship between nature and culture and places I wanted to write about... I thought, well, maybe I should try prose. It was a real struggle to begin because, first of all, there were so many words on the page - it was terrifying... Beginning was awful.”

Should Writing Trying Firsts Wells Real Wanted Culture Struggle Pages Concern Awful Prose

Author:Alison Hawthorne Deming

“I'm really interested in culture because it is such a powerful human force, particularly in America where we think it's all about the individual.”

Thinking Humans America Culture Individual Force Powerful

Author:Alison Hawthorne Deming

“As writers, the world is not about individual expression entirely because we are producing works of literature and getting them out into the world.”

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Author:Alison Hawthorne Deming

“The reflection of the world is blues, that's where that part of the music is at. Then you got this other kind of music that's tryin' to come around.”

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“I'm interested in thinking about how are we contributing to the culture, what we can write that might help us deepen the culture, make us more reflective, make us more empathetic, make us feel our connectedness in other ways.”

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Author:Alison Hawthorne Deming