I'm saying look, here they come, pay attention. Let your eyes transform what appears ordinary, commonplace, into what it is, a moment in time, an observed fragment of eternity. Philip Levine appearattentioncommonplace Change image and share on social
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
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 realized poetry's the thing that I can do 'cause I can stick at it and work with tremendous intensity. Philip Levine intensitypoetryrealize Change image and share on social
The irony is, going to work every day became the subject of probably my best poetry. Philip Levine dayironypoetry Change image and share on social
