I've never written poetry. I'm not a poet, but I think the nearest you get is either the short story or the novella, in that you can't waste a word. There is no hiding place: everything's got to be seen to relate, and the prose counts. Susan Hill counthavehide share on social
A poet must be a psychologist, but a secret one: he should know and feel the roots of phenomena but present only the phenomena themselves in full bloom or as they fade away. Ivan Turgenev bloomfadefeel Change image and share on social
When I became poet laureate, I was in a slightly uncomfortable position because I think a lot of poetry isn't worth reading. Billy Collins laureatelotpoet Change image and share on social
It should here be added that poetry habitually takes the form of verse. John Drinkwater addformhabitually Change image and share on social
I think it was T.S. Eliot who talked about good poetry being felt before it's understood. I believe that. There are some bands where I love their lyrics but I don't have a clue what they're on about. Marcus Mumford bandclueeliot Change image and share on social
Still, language is resilient, and poetry when it is pressured simply goes underground. Diane Wakoski languagepoetrypressure Change image and share on social
Most lyric poetry is about love, whether yearned after, fulfilled, or wistfully regretted; what isn't tends to consist of laments and cris du coeur over this, that, and the other. Michael Dirda coeurconsistcris Change image and share on social
My father read poetry to me, encouraged me to memorize poems. But the writing of it was quite a different thing. C. K. Williams encouragefathermemorize Change image and share on social
The Vietnam War and the Iraq war, in different ways, both made me feel like I could not not address them. I'm very doubtful about the usefulness of poetry to do that. Robert Hass addressdoubtfulfeel Change image and share on social
