Institutions Quote by Adrienne Rich

Civic poetry offers us a way to think and talk about issues that so much of public speech ignores, to make them new by…

— Alissa Quart

Poetry is a lousy form of activism; it doesn't really change much. And maybe we can point to one or two historical times when…

— Daphne Gottlieb

Protest poetry -- could there be consensus poetry?

— Anonymous

I'm not from the arts, I'm a law professor. But I think we need more poetry in politics.

— Zephyr Teachout

For me, poetry has no point in existing if it's not to be a prompt or aid to political and ethical change.

— John Kinsella

Civic poetry is public poetry. It is political poetry. It is about the hard stuff of life: money, crime, gender, corporate excess, racial injustice.…

— Alissa Quart

Poetry is a political act because it involves telling the truth.

— June Jordan

Poetry is basically built out of what I think of as being a fairly political act at its core: "I'm not going to listen…

— Ted Genoways

It is always better to write for the whole of society than for the poetry-reading public.

— Tony Harrison

I'm of the opinion that poetry is always political, and cannot help but be so, regardless of the poet's intent, given that refusing to…

— Andre Naffis-Sahely

Poetry is my politics. It's an opportunity that gives me a way to speak.

— Eileen Myles

Poetry can explain individuals to ourselves, and change our attitudes, and help us see the complexity of the world, but the kind of poetry…

— Stephen Burt