Back then, I couldn't have left a poem a year and gone back to it. Philip Levine backleavepoem Change image and share on social
I'm seventy-one now, so it's hard to imagine a dramatic change. Philip Levine changedramatichard Change image and share on social
Meet some people who care about poetry the way you do. You'll have that readership. Keep going until you know you're doing work that's worthy. And then see what happens. That's my advice. Philip Levine advicecaremeet Change image and share on social
It's ironic that while I was a worker in Detroit, which I left when I was twenty six, my sense was that the thing that's going to stop me from being a poet is the fact that I'm doing this crummy work. Philip Levine crummydetroitfact Change image and share on social
I have a sense that many Americans, especially those like me with European or foreign parents, feel they have to invent their families just as they have to invent themselves. Philip Levine americaneuropeanfamily Change image and share on social
There'll always be working people in my poems because I grew up with them, and I am a poet of memory. Philip Levine growmemorypeople Change image and share on social
No one can write like Vallejo and not sound like a fraud. He's just too much himself and not you. Philip Levine fraudsoundvallejo Change image and share on social
If that voice that you created that is most alive in the poem isn't carried throughout the whole poem, then I destroy where it's not there, and I reconstruct it so that that voice is the dominant voice in the poem. Philip Levine alivecarrycreate share on social
I was very lucky to have a mother who encouraged me to become a poet. Philip Levine encourageluckymother Change image and share on social
For sure I once thought of myself as the poet who would save the ordinary from oblivion. Philip Levine oblivionordinarypoet Change image and share on social
