“I must say what I admire most is the person who masters an area of practical experience, and can teach me something. I mean, my local midwife has taught me how to keep bees. Well, she can't understand anything I write. And I find myself liking her, may I say, more than most poets. And among my friends I find people who know all about boats or know all about certain sports, or how to cut somebody open and remove an organ. I'm fascinated by this mastery of the practical.” PeopleKnowsWritingWellsMayMeanPersonsCertainSportsTeachCuttingTaughtPoetMastersMy FriendsAreasPracticalsLocalsAdmireBoatRemoveFascinatedMasteryOrgansBeesMidwifePractical Experience Author:Sylvia Plath
“When poets die, other poets take it personally, almost as an affront. A lot of us "left behind" are thinking that poetry is the one thing keeping us alive and present, so what does it mean when one of our ranks chooses to end his or her life? There's an anger beneath the grief, you know? That anger and grief, in turn, breeds other poems from those of us left behind.” ThinkingKnowsMeanDoeEndsDiesTurnsLeftGriefBehindsAliveOne ThingPoetPoetry IsLeft BehindAffront Author:Allison Joseph
“There's this pet phrase about writing that is bandied around particularly in workshops about "finding your own voice as a poet", which I suppose means that you come out from under the direct influence of other poets and have perhaps found a way to combine those influences so that it appears to be your own voice. But I think you could also put it a different way. You, quote, find your voice, unquote, when you are able to invent this one character who resembles you, obviously, and probably is more like you than anyone else on earth, but is not the equivalent to you.” ThinkingWayWritingMeanDifferentCharacterAbleEarthFoundVoiceInfluencePoetLike YouFindingsDirectDifferent WaysPhrasesPetWorkshops Author:Billy Collins
“Maybe lurking in my unconscious was the idea that when someone's collected poems are published it means that the poet is dead. I found myself looking at my work as if I were at my own funeral.” MeanPoetUnconsciousFuneralLurking Author:Ron Padgett
“When we look at the arts and letters in America, especially if we look at poetry, and poetry set to music, this dialogue, we have this very powerful beautiful, eclectic, diary, or narration of being in America, being American, participating in America, becoming more of America and also as an American, the American creative spirit, which is quite interesting. Our composers and poets have spent more time writing and thinking and speaking out of what it means to be a composer or poet as well as to be an American, or a composer or poet In America; both relationships.” ThinkingWritingMeanArtBeautifulSpiritInterestingPowerfulCreativePoetDialogueComposerVery PowerfulEclecticSpeaking Out Author:Thomas Hampson
“I'm interested in the fact that comics are people who are oddly courageous in their desire and their commitment to sacrificing any sense of normalcy in their lives, any sense of security, and most of them are oddly unique individuals. Let's have a broader conversation with people that have spent their last however-many-years thinking about their lives. I mean, they're philosophers. They're poets. They're people who are on the outside looking in at the world through a different set of values.” PeopleThinkingWorldMeanDifferentDesireValuesIndividualSacrificeSecurityPoetUniqueCommitmentPhilosopherCourageous Author:Marc Maron
“"Ageism" or whatever you want to call it, is a very English phenomenon. You don't get it too much in many other cultures. And no one says it about authors or poets or filmmakers. "Oh, they're too old to make films or write books." You know what I mean?” WritingMeanBookFilmCulturePoetFilmmakerPhenomenon Author:Paul Weller
“As poets, we're writing into the void, and we're not writing to be bestsellers. Whatever individual responses we get, whether at a reading, by a conversation or a letter, mean the world.” WorldWritingMeanReadingIndividualPoetResponse Author:Mary Jo Salter
“Does it mean this, does it mean that, that's all anybody wants to know. I'd say what any decent poet would say if anyone dared ask him to analyze his work: if you see it, darling, then it's there!” IfsKnowsWantMeanDoeAsksPoetDecentDarling Author:Freddie Mercury
“A writer is a person who cares what words mean, what they say, how they say it. Writers know words are their way towards truth and freedom, and so they use them with care, with thought, with fear, with delight. By using words well they strengthen their souls. Story-tellers and poets spend their lives learning that skill and art of using words well. And their words make the souls of their readers stronger, brighter, deeper.” KnowsWayWritingWellsMeanPersonsArtSoulStoriesUseCarePoetReaderSkillsStrongerDelightDeeperWho CaresBrighterLife LearningUsing Words Author:Ursula K. Le Guin