Category Archives: Quotations

“It’s the poet’s business to make poetry out of the unexplored resources of the unpoetical.” (T.S. Eliot) “I would sooner give the laurel to vigorous error than to any orthodoxy not inspired.” (W.B. Yeats) “A poem by its nature operates … Continue reading →

I find among my keepings a poem by Galway Kinnell published in the New Yorker June 19, 2006. Its title is “Burning the Brush Pile.” Tending the pile, the speaker discovers a small, half-burnt snake still alive: “It stopped where … Continue reading →

“For me, poetry proliferates and flourishes in the intellect’s blind spot. But you have to have the intellect first; you can’t skip that step. I find intelligence to be most interesting when it’s tested — not when it’s challenged, but … Continue reading →