Poetry is a vocation. It is not a career but a calling. Edward Hirsch callcareerpoetry Change image and share on social
My cultural experiences were as important to my formation as many of the other things that happened to me. Edward Hirsch culturalexperienceformation Change image and share on social
The idea of how to read a poem is based on the idea that poetry needs you as a reader. That the experience of poetry, the meaning in poetry, is a kind of circuit that takes place between a poet, a poem and a reader, and that meaning doesn't exist or inhere in poems alone. Edward Hirsch basecircuitexist share on social
My focus is on the reader and that the poet's job is not to inspire himself or herself. The poet's job is to inspire some future reader. Edward Hirsch focusfutureinspire Change image and share on social
Poetry itself hasn't been well served by poets who fled to the margins. Edward Hirsch fleemarginpoet Change image and share on social
Poetry takes place in time. It is a durational. Things take place in sequence. Edward Hirsch durationalplacepoetry Change image and share on social
The idea that a poem was a made thing stayed with me, and I decided then that I wanted to be an artist, not just a diarist. So I put myself through a kind of apprenticeship in writing poetry, and I understood even then that my practice as a poet was deeply related to my reading. Edward Hirsch apprenticeshipartistdecide share on social
Once your poems are completed, you send them into the world. You don't write for a coterie of other writers - you write for other human beings. Edward Hirsch beingcompletecoterie Change image and share on social
You are always trying to make something that is more than the sum of its parts. Edward Hirsch makepartsum Change image and share on social
I like the machinery of poems, especially when they have human warmth. Edward Hirsch humanmachinerypoem Change image and share on social
