“Anybody who instantly goes from being a poet and a graduate student to being a public figure has to be in a state of shock. First people want to praise you, and then they want to attack you. No one can prepare you for it.” PeopleWantFirstsStatesFiguresStudentsPoetPraiseShockGraduatesPublic FiguresGraduate Students Author:Erica Jong
“I can't think of any poet-recluses outside of one dead Jeffers. [Robinson Jeffers] The rest of them want to slobber over each other and hug each other. It appears to me that I am the last of the poet-recluses.” ThinkingWantI CanLastsPoetHugRecluse Author:Charles Bukowski
“Everyone wants to be open and inclusive, but nobody wants to pay for it. It's the biggest roadblock to translating living writers, especially poets.” WantPayPoetTranslateRoadblock Author:Andre Naffis-Sahely
“I want people to see the beauty of that condition through the eyes of the characters. In doing that, they can allow people who have the condition to be more accepting of it, and to be open about it. That would be a contribution to the people who have it, and considering that 38% of the Pulitzer Prize winning poets are Bipolar, to think about how much these individuals have contributed to the human spirit.” PeopleThinkingWantHumansCharacterWould BeEyeSpiritWinningIndividualAcceptingConditionsPoetContributionPrizeConsideringHuman SpiritBipolarThrough The EyesPrize Winning Author:Paul Dalio
“I think that poets can say, "What we want is for everybody on earth to wake up free from fear and with access to medicine and clean water and education." But I don't think poets have any special insight on how to get there. And the 20th century is a pretty good record of that because so many of the great poets were Stalinists: Vallejo, Neruda, Eluard, Aragon, etc. They wrote their odes to Lenin and Stalin. They glorified some of the most violent and grotesque dictatorships of the 20th century. And a lot of the ones who were not Stalinists were fascists or fascist sympathizers.” ThinkingWantEarthWaterRecordsSpecialCenturyPoetWake UpMedicineCleanInsightAccessViolentEtcDictatorship20th CenturyFascistsGrotesqueGreat PoetClean WaterOdesGood RecordsLenin And Stalin Author:Robert Hass
“I try to write lyrics that will be able to function on their own if they get separated from the music. But I wouldn't want to take anything away from poets, who work without the frames songwriters get from melody, and I think lyrics should be considered as their own thing.” IfsThinkingWantShouldWritingTryingAblePoetFunctionMelodySongwriters Author:John K. Samson
“As an artist, I never wanted to be fettered by gender nor recognized or defined as a female poet, musician or singer. They don't do that with men - nobody says Picasso, the male artist. Curators call me up and say, "We want your work to be in a show about women artists," and I'm like, why? For Christ's sake, do we have to attach a gender onto everything?” MenWantShowsWantedArtistChristPoetMusicianFemaleMalesSakeGenderSingersDefinedCall MeCuratorWoman Artist Author:Patti Smith
“I've never read a political poem that's accomplished anything. Poetry makes things happen, but rarely what the poet wants.” WantHappensPoliticalLiteraturePoetThings HappenAccomplishedMake Things Happen Author:Howard Nemerov
“Why do people want to know exactly who I am? Am I a poet? Am I this or that? I've always made people wary. First they called me a rock poet. Then I was a poet that dabbled in rock. Then I was a rock person who dabbled in art.” PeopleKnowsWantFirstsPersonsArtMadeRocksPoetWho I Am Author:Patti Smith
“I want to be remembered as a poet, a peacemaker, and a philosopher who played.” WantPoetPhilosopherRememberedPeacemaker Author:Mattie Stepanek
“I want to be a poet and have a chance to explore that and let people know what's really on my mind.” PeopleKnowsWantMindChancePoet Author:Christina Aguilera
“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
“If you want to become a man of letters and perhaps write some Histories one day, you must also lie and invent tales, otherwise your History would become monotonous. But you must act with restraint. The world condemns liars who do nothing but lie, even about the most trivial things, and it rewards poets, who lie only about the greatest things.” IfsMenWorldWantWritingLyingPoetOne DayLettersRewardsTalesLiarsRestraintMonotonousTrivial Things Book:Baudolino Source: Baudolino