Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
There are times in life when, instead of complaining, you do something about your complaints.
What writing does is to reveal.
Libraries are where it all begins.
If you can't be free, be a mystery.
Don't be so fast, you're all you've got.
I write short stories, and I wrote a play.
I make a discovery in a poem as I write it.
Everybody who's anybody longs to be a tree.
When I was young, I was older than I am today.
Creative writing and literacy go hand and hand.
What's a word, a talisman, to hold against the world?
Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful.
I'm a night person. My best times are midnight to six, actually.
I carry a notebook with me everywhere. But that's only the first step.
I think children have talent and insight, but it gets beaten out of them.
Crassly put: When I write, I am trying not to bore myself and my readers.
Sometimes a word is found so right it trembles at the slightest explanation.
For many years, I thought a poem was a whisper overheard, not an aria heard.
I didn't know writers could be real live people, because I never knew any writers.
When we are touched by something it's as if we're being brushed by an angel's wings.
I think that you certainly don't have to be aged and travel the world to write a poem.
The joy of working at something to find out what it means to me is what I grew up with.
Poetry connects you to yourself, to the self that doesn't know how to talk or negotiate.
I've always been intrigued by the way history works, the way we decide what is mentioned.
Being true to yourself really means being true to all the complexities of the human spirit.
A good poem is like a bouillon cube. It's concentrated and it nourishes you when you need it.
If we really want to be full and generous in spirit, we have no choice but to trust at some level.
It's unfortunate that sometimes in schools, there's this need to have things quantified and graded.
My favorite poets may not be your bread and butter. I have more favorite poems than favorite poets.
The library is an arena of possibility, opening both a window into the soul and a door onto the world.
It's the combination of the intimate and the public that I find so exciting about being poet laureate.
Equality and self-determination should never be divided in the name of religious or ideological fervor.
Rap is only one end of a whole spectrum of verbal play and virtuosity. Rap is geared for aural pleasure.
We should always do something that makes us feel like a child again. Keep learning, no matter what it is.
To practice your scales, so to speak, in order play the symphony, is what you have to do as a young poet.
I prefer to explore the most intimate moments, the smaller, crystallized details we all hinge our lives on.
Can it be that even as one grows to fit the space one lives in, one cannot grow until there's space to grow?
I believe people may have a predisposition for artistic creativity. It doesn't mean they're going to make it.
I was pirouette and flourish, I was filigree and flame. How could I count my blessings when I didn't know their names?
I try to show what it is about language and music that enthralls, because I think those are the two elements of poetry.
The poetry that sustains me is when I feel that, for a minute, the clouds have parted and I've seen ecstasy or something
The poetry that sustains me is when I feel that, for a minute, the clouds have parted and I've seen ecstasy or something.
Being Poet Laureate made me realize I was capable of a larger voice. There is a more public utterance I can make as a poet.
I was apprehensive. I feared every time I talked about poetry, it would be filtered through the lens of race, sex, and age.
I have a high guilt quotient. A poem can go through as many as 50 or 60 drafts. It can take from a day to two years-or longer.
I keep the drafts of each poem in color-coded folders. I pick up the folders according to how I feel about that color that day.
I have a high guilt quotient. A poem can go through as many as 50 or 60 drafts. It can take from a day to two years - or longer.
In working on a poem, I love to revise. Lots of younger poets don't enjoy this, but in the process of revision I discover things
I see a resurgence of interest in poetry. I am less optimistic about the prospects for the arts when it comes to federal funding.
In working on a poem, I love to revise. Lots of younger poets don't enjoy this, but in the process of revision I discover things.
