“When I was a young girl salmon fishing with my father in the Straits of Juan de Fuca in Washington State I used to lean out over the water and try to look past my own face, past the reflection of the boat, past the sun and darkness, down to where the fish were surely swimming. I made up charm songs and word-hopes to tempt the fish, to cause them to mean biting my hook. I believed they would do it if I asked them well and patiently and with the right hope. I am writing my poems like this. I have used the fabric and the people of my life as the bait.” PeopleIfsWritingTryingWellsLooksMeanMadeStatesPastFacesYoungUsedSongGirlFatherCausesWaterMy OwnDarknessSunSeaReflectionRiversFishesBoatCharmLakesFishingSwimmingFabricHookBaitBitingSalmonJuanWashington State Author:Tess Gallagher
“What are the precise characteristics of an epigram it is not easy to define. It differs from a joke, in the fact that the wit of the latter dies in the words, and cannot therefore be conveyed in another language; while an epigram is a wit of ideas, and hence, is translatable. Like aphorisms, songs and sonnets, it is occupied with some single point, small and manageable; but whilst a song conveys a sentiment, a sonnet a poetical, and an aphorism a moral reflection, an epigram expresses a contrast.” IdeasFactsSongDiesLanguageEasyMoralJokesReflectionWitCharacteristicsLatterSentimentsContrastAphorismPreciseSonnetEpigramsManageable Author:William Matthews
“Water. Its sunny track in the plain; its splashing in the garden canal, the sound it makes when in its course it meets the mane ofthe grass; the diluted reflection of the sky together with the fleeting sight of the reeds; the Negresses fill their dripping gourds and their red clay containers; the song of the washerwomen; the gorged fields the tall crops ripening.” TogetherSongCoursesSoundWaterNatureSkyFieldsReflectionRedGardenRiversSightTrackGrassTallFleetingClayCropsSunnyReedsCanalsDrippingContainersRipeningSplashingGourds Author:Jacques Roumain
“I'm feeling more and more thoughts that aren't songs, just reflections. I'm always been very shy and in some ways a prisoner in one language and I feel that the liberation of creativity has to be in all senses. So I've been deciding to publishing something very simple but very small at the same time, nothing egocentric.” WayFeelsFeelingsSongLanguageSimpleCreativityReflectionSensesLiberationShyPrisonerPublishingEgocentric Author:Ana Tijoux