The forties and fifties were years of high poet-incense; the language-flowers were thickly sweet. Those flowers whined and begged white folks to… — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
What I'm fighting for now in my work... for an expression relevant to all manner of blacks, poems I could take into… — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
“To create - a role, a poem, picture, music, a rapture in stone: great. But not for her. What she wanted was… — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
“Exhaust the little moment. Soon it dies. And be it gash or gold it will not come Again in this identical disguise.” — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
When I start writing a poem, I don't think about models or about what anybody else in the world has done. — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
Be yourself. Don't imitate other poets. You are as important as they are. — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
A poem doesn't do everything for you. You are supposed to go on with your thinking. You are supposed to enrich the… — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
I am an ordinary human being who is impelled to write poetry. ... I still do feel that a poet has a… — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
“ Truth And if sun comes How shall we greet him? Shall we not dread him, Shall we not fear him After… — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
I tell poets that when a line just floats into your head, don't pay attention 'cause it probably has floated into somebody… — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
Very early in life I became fascinated with the wonders language can achieve. And I began playing with words. — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
We real cool. We Left school. We Lurk late. We Strike straight. We Sing sin. We Thin gin. We Jazz June. We Die soon. — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
I've always thought of myself as a reporter. When people ask why I don't stop writing, I say, `Look at what's happening in this… — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
She was afraid to suggest to him that to most people, nothing "happens." That most people merely live from day to day until they… — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
A writer should get as much education as possible, but just going to school is not enough; if it were, all owners of doctorates… — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
Reading is important - read between the lines. Don't swallow everything. — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
The forties and fifties were years of high poet-incense; the language-flowers were thickly sweet. Those flowers whined and begged white folks to pick them,… — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
It frightens me to realize that, if I had died before the age of fifty, I would have died a 'Negro' fraction. — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
One reason cats are happier than people is that they have no newspapers. — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
