"The poet is the one who breaks through our habits." ~ St. John Perse
If Galileo had said in verse that the world moved, the inquisition might have left him alone. ~ Thomas Hardy
There is no question that the language of "felt thought" must be quarried from our personal depths. Like the best gold, it does not lie on the surface. ~ Jacques Maritain
Business and poetry aren't odd bedfellows. They both draw their water out of the same well. They are both concerned with making order out of chaos. I see myself as someone who wanders the world turning what I see into money and poetry. I can't imagine doing one without the other. ~ John Barr
The meaning of poetry has no sureness of direction; is like the sling, it is not under control. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi
Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat. ~ Robert Frost
No time for poetry but exactly what is. ~ Jack Kerouac
Memory exercised in a particular way is a natural gift of poetic genius. The poet above all else, is a person who never forgets certain sense impressions which he has experienced and which he can relive again as though with all their original freshness. ~ Stephen Spendor
My novels and poems are meant to be read aloud. That's why jazz musicians have been able to adapt my stuff. ~ Ishmael Reed
Poetry confronts in the most clear-eyed way just those emotions which consciousness wishes to slide by. ~ C. K. Williams