Poetry is Quotes by Cate Marvin

The fiction writer has a lot of balls to juggle. Setting, pacing, dialogue, and so on. And let's not forget: plot. That was always…

— Cate Marvin

One cannot have "success" in poetry. If I wanted to be successful, I'd have become a lawyer.

— Cate Marvin

One of the reasons poetry is such an amazing genre to work with is because it constantly reinvents itself and re-negotiates its terms with…

— Cate Marvin

I have no precise idea of who makes up my readership. I'm surprised when I discover people have read my poems at all.

— Cate Marvin

Confessional poetry is, to my mind, more slippery than poems that are sloppily autobiographical; I find the confessional mode much more akin to dramatic…

— Cate Marvin

I do believe that one's writing life needs to be kept separate from Po-Biz. Personally, I deal with this by not attending too many…

— Cate Marvin

I place a lot of emphasis on process and revision because I believe that all of my students can become better writers through hard…

— Cate Marvin

“I think with my blood.”

— Cate Marvin

I consider poetry my vocation, not my "career." My career is as a university professor; that's what pays the bills.

— Cate Marvin

I like it when poems are challenging, when they concern matters important and personal to the author.

— Cate Marvin

I find the elitism and blatant provincialism of many (Manhattan-based) New Yorkers unattractive. Just as place can be an identity crutch that helps a…

— Cate Marvin

I am like a table that eats its own legs off because it’s fallen in love with the floor.

— Cate Marvin