To me, poetry is about survival first of all. Survival of the individual self, survival of the emotional life. — Gregory Orr Copy Share Image
I believe in poetry as a way of surviving the emotional chaos, spiritual confusions, and traumatic events that come with being alive. — Gregory Orr Copy Share Image
Poetry is the thread that leads us out of the labyrinth of despair and into the light. — Gregory Orr Copy Share Image
With "poets dead and gone" as Keats says in "Mermaid Tavern" they are alive and talking to us and us to them. — Gregory Orr Copy Share Image
Another way of saying "put it in the Book" would be that each poem we write pops up in the city of… — Gregory Orr Copy Share Image
No one can threaten poetry. It's always been there, always will be. Humans need it to live: it has sustaining powers. How… — Gregory Orr Copy Share Image
I can't actually explain why my lines got shorter, but they did. Just as I can't explain why my early poems were… — Gregory Orr Copy Share Image
“Somehow something has gone wrong with poetry in our culture. We have lost touch with its purpose and value, and in doing… — Gregory Orr Copy Share Image
Whenever I read a poem that moves me, I know I'm not alone in the world. I feel a connection to the… — Gregory Orr Copy Share Image
I am committed now to one thing: lyric sequences. I want the intensity of lyric, but the scope and arc of narrative.… — Gregory Orr Copy Share Image
In Eden I "saw" that Adam or Eve probably spoke each word FOR THE FIRST TIME and that seemed wild and seemed… — Gregory Orr Copy Share Image
Speaking of people I had to exclude: Hank Williams. which is to say, songs are part of lyric poetry in my book,… — Gregory Orr Copy Share Image
Language is a theme in the whole book, no? I mean it ends with the title poem about words are all we… — Gregory Orr Copy Share Image
I am committed now to one thing: lyric sequences. I want the intensity of lyric, but the scope and arc of narrative. so, I… — Gregory Orr Copy Share Image
No one can threaten poetry. It's always been there, always will be. Humans need it to live: it has sustaining powers. How could we… — Gregory Orr Copy Share Image
I can't actually explain why my lines got shorter, but they did. Just as I can't explain why my early poems were 'all image'… — Gregory Orr Copy Share Image
I want language to help us live in a world of wonder/terror/change. I want it to be about "becoming" rather than "being." I think… — Gregory Orr Copy Share Image
Another way of saying "put it in the Book" would be that each poem we write pops up in the city of poetry, where… — Gregory Orr Copy Share Image
I believe in poetry as a way of surviving the emotional chaos, spiritual confusions, and traumatic events that come with being alive. — Gregory Orr Copy Share Image
Poetry is the thread that leads us out of the labyrinth of despair and into the light. — Gregory Orr Copy Share Image
D.H. Lawrence says that myths are "inexhaustible" because they are symbols of heart mysteries. That is, they can't be exhausted - they somehow have… — Gregory Orr Copy Share Image
“Somehow something has gone wrong with poetry in our culture. We have lost touch with its purpose and value, and in doing so, we… — Gregory Orr Copy Share Image
That's crudely put, but If we're not supposed to dance, Why all this music? — Gregory Orr Copy Share Image
“Self-Portrait at Twenty" I stood inside myself like a dead tree or a tower. I pulled the rope of braided hair and high above… — Gregory Orr Copy Share Image
