“I fancy the character of a poet is in every country the same,--fond of enjoying the present, careless of the future; his conversation that of a man of sense, his actions those of a fool.” MenCountryCharacterActionEnjoyPoetFoolConversationFancyCareless Book:His Works Source: His Works
“The workplace needs the poet's gift. But the poet also needs to be educated about the workplace. You're not just coming in to do your art, you're actually making yourself vulnerable. You yourself are not God's gift to truth. You have to hazard yourself in their world, especially because you're inviting people to do the same. It's all about become visible, becoming incarnate, becoming here and now and yet with our eyes on a future horizon; holding the conversation you were meant to hold.” PeopleWorldNeedsArtEyePoetBecomingConversationEducatedVulnerableVisibleHorizonWorkplaceHere And NowHazardsInviting Author:David Whyte
“Walking companions, like heroes, are difficult to pluck out of the crowd of acquaintances. Good dispositions, ready wit, friendly conversation serve well enough by the fireside but they prove insufficient in the field. For there you need transcendentalists-nothing less; you need poets, sages, humorists and natural philosophers.” NeedsWellsEnoughDifficultNaturalFieldsReadyPoetHeroWalkingConversationProvePhilosopherCrowdsWitFriendlyCompanionDispositionSageAcquaintanceHumoristsPluckInsufficient Author:Brooks Atkinson
“One can say that the disaffection is still a lingering naiveté about, not the place of poetry in the world, but - how to say this - the moral and intellectual presence of poets in the world. And while this may seem an old conversation to many poets who roll their eyes and say, "Here we go again about the function of poetry," I think that conversation, about poetry as an engaged art in a world that is full of regression or still lacking in progress, is still really not well-developed. It's almost an avoided conversation.” ThinkingWorldWellsMayArtStillsSeemsEyeMoralProgressPoetConversationIntellectualFunctionEngagedLackingAvoidedLingeringRegressionHere We Go Again Author:Fady Joudah
“As a poet who has the tools for interpreting the poem differently, you can begin to deconstruct it. But the human being who's like, "I know about conversation, I know about language, I know about hard times," will approach the poem differently.” KnowsHumansHardLanguageHuman BeingsPoetConversationApproachToolsHard TimesInterpreting Author:Jacqueline Woodson