I like poems that affect me emotionally and also provoke me to further, deeper thought. I enjoy challenge, but not, I think, for its own sake. — James Arthur Copy Share Image
I like poems that immediately claim my attention, instead of taking my attention for granted. At first read, I want to feel compelled to pick up the poem again; I want to be curious about its byways and secret corners. — James Arthur Copy Share Image
Me and my mum didn't see eye-to-eye for a lot of years, and I've never really felt connected with my dad, because he wasn't… — James Arthur Copy Share Image
I'm a mix; I'm sure some of my Canadian friends find me very American, both in person and on the page. — James Arthur Copy Share Image
I often write from memory by walking around and talking to myself. Even when I'm working at a computer I write out loud, so… — James Arthur Copy Share Image
I'd like to think that maybe the average person is rational, and they realise that I'm not this crazy monster that, at times, I've… — James Arthur Copy Share Image
It can feel like your whole world is caving in on you, and if you don't speak about it, it gets worse. You have… — James Arthur Copy Share Image
If art doesn't require an audience, can an intimate conversation be a work of art? Can a thought be a work of art? Maybe.… — James Arthur Copy Share Image
And treating poetry as a performing art emphasizes its ephemerality. A printed poem can be endlessly reprinted, photocopied, scanned, uploaded, cut and pasted -… — James Arthur Copy Share Image
I want each poem to be ambiguous enough that its meaning can shift, depending on the reader's own frame of reference, and depending on… — James Arthur Copy Share Image
People were telling me it was refreshing I was real because previous 'X Factor' winners were too afraid to say anything. I decided to… — James Arthur Copy Share Image
I believe strongly in what John Keats called negative capability: the trait or practice that allows a poet to remain in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts,… — James Arthur Copy Share Image
When I had my first panic attack, I believed that it was a heart attack. — James Arthur Copy Share Image
As a species, we create tools to control our environment. What excites my imagination is wilderness: our materials' ability to escape our control. — James Arthur Copy Share Image
