I think I'm a very good reader of poetry, but obviously, like everybody, I have a set of criteria for reading poems, and I'm not shy about presenting them, so if people ask for my critical response to a poem, I tell them what works and why, and what doesn't work and why. Diane Wakoski criterioncriticalgood share on social
PC stuff just lowers the general acceptance of good work and replaces it with bogus poetry that celebrates values that in themselves are probably quite worthy. Diane Wakoski acceptanceboguscelebrate Change image and share on social
I think that's what poetry does. It allows people to come together and identify with a common thing that is outside of themselves, but which they identify with from the interior. Diane Wakoski commonidentifyinterior Change image and share on social
But I don't think that poetry is a good, to use a contemporary word, venue, for current events. Diane Wakoski contemporarycurrentevent Change image and share on social
Sometimes the archaism of the language when it's spoken is why we are all in love with the Irish today. Diane Wakoski archaismirishlanguage Change image and share on social
I'm passing on a tradition of which I am part. There's a long line of poets who went before me, and I'm another one, and I'm hoping to pass that on to other younger, or newer, poets than myself. Diane Wakoski hopelinelong Change image and share on social
I definitely wish to distinguish American poetry from British or other English language poetry. Diane Wakoski americanbritishdistinguish Change image and share on social
American poets celebrate their bodies, very specifically, as Whitman did. Diane Wakoski americanbodycelebrate Change image and share on social
I think that great poetry is the most interesting and complex use of the poet's language at that point in history, and so it's even more exciting when you read a poet like Yeats, almost 100 years old now, and you think that perhaps no one can really top that. Diane Wakoski complexexcitgreat share on social
One, I have a wonderful publisher, Black Sparrow Press; as long as they exist, they will keep me in print. And they claim they sell very respectable numbers of my books, so I guess, and it's true, every place I go, my books are in libraries and on bookshelves. Diane Wakoski blackbookbookshelf share on social