--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I'm always doing poems from a place of…" description: "\"I'm always doing poems from a place of not-knowing, a place of ignorance in a way.\" — Alison Hawthorne Deming" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/49a/alison-hawthorne-deming-11586_ignorance_i-m-always-doing-poems-from-a-place-of-n_2651411.png" --- # I'm always doing poems from a place of not-knowing, a… ![“I'm always doing poems from a place of not-knowing, a place of ignorance in a way.” quote by Alison Hawthorne Deming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/49a/alison-hawthorne-deming-11586_ignorance_i-m-always-doing-poems-from-a-place-of-n_2651411.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/49a/alison-hawthorne-deming-11586_ignorance_i-m-always-doing-poems-from-a-place-of-n_2651411.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/49a/alison-hawthorne-deming-11586_ignorance_i-m-always-doing-poems-from-a-place-of-n_2651411.png) > “I'm always doing poems from a place of not-knowing, a place of ignorance in a way.” [Alison Hawthorne Deming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-hawthorne-deming/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Poems arise from ignorance and uncertainty, embracing the unknown as a creative source. **In simple terms:** Poetry born from not-knowing. Key Takeaway Embrace uncertainty in creation. Themes creativity ignorance exploration Mood reflective inspirational Type artistic philosophical When to use this quote - writing workshops - personal reflection - teaching Key Concepts poetry mindset Questions to Reflect On - How does not-knowing inspire you? - What role does uncertainty play in art? A Different Perspective Ignorance may limit depth if not explored. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ignorance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ignorance/) [Poems](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poems/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) ## Related quotes > [“Poetry is a useful place for lamentation...poems are a place where we can cry out.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bell-hooks/poetry-is-a-useful-place-for-lamentation-poems-are-a-place-where-we/) [bell hooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bell-hooks/) > [“To read narrowly and shallowly is to read from a place of ignorance,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roxane-gay/to-read-narrowly-and-shallowly-is-to-read-from-a-place-of-ignorance/) [Roxane Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roxane-gay/) > [I really enjoy doing my poems. 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As the experience of the Unknown deepens, your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adyashanti/when-you-rest-deeply-in-the-unknown-without-trying-to-escape-your/) [Adyashanti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adyashanti/) > [Those who are the most happy appear to know it the least; happiness is something that for the most part seems to mainly consist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-brothers/those-who-are-the-most-happy-appear-to-know-it-the-least-happiness-is/) [Joyce Brothers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-brothers/) ## More by Alison Hawthorne Deming > [Once you realize that human actions affect every bit of earth and sky, you realize that the environment isn't just what surrounds us -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-hawthorne-deming/once-you-realize-that-human-actions-affect-every-bit-of-earth-and-sky/) [Alison Hawthorne Deming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-hawthorne-deming/) > [It's extremely important that, as writers, we give a voice to those who don't have voices, including the other animals that we share the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-hawthorne-deming/it-s-extremely-important-that-as-writers-we-give-a-voice-to-those-who/) [Alison Hawthorne Deming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-hawthorne-deming/) > [I've been accused of darkness by my inner light.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-hawthorne-deming/i-ve-been-accused-of-darkness-by-my-inner-light/) [Alison Hawthorne Deming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-hawthorne-deming/) > [What keeps me level is the refusal to let the best of human aspirations die in the face of the challenges. I make a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-hawthorne-deming/what-keeps-me-level-is-the-refusal-to-let-the-best-of-human/) [Alison Hawthorne Deming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-hawthorne-deming/) > [I'm extremely interested in science as the mythos within which I live. Science tells me what kind of animal I am, what kind of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-hawthorne-deming/i-m-extremely-interested-in-science-as-the-mythos-within-which-i-live/) [Alison Hawthorne Deming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-hawthorne-deming/) > [I like to joke that I started writing long poems out the anxiety over ending and starting poems. It just seemed easier to keep…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-hawthorne-deming/i-like-to-joke-that-i-started-writing-long-poems-out-the-anxiety-over/) [Alison Hawthorne Deming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-hawthorne-deming/) > [I like the dance between sustained focus and digression that the long poem invites. A controlling metaphor helps to sustain the long poem.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-hawthorne-deming/i-like-the-dance-between-sustained-focus-and-digression-that-the-long/) [Alison Hawthorne Deming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-hawthorne-deming/) > [The countries that are the least responsible for causing climate change are paying the heaviest price.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-hawthorne-deming/the-countries-that-are-the-least-responsible-for-causing-climate/) [Alison Hawthorne Deming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-hawthorne-deming/) > [As deaths have accumulated I have begun to think of life and death as a set of balance scales. 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When I'm writing poems in particular, I'm often writing because a few images coalesced in my mind and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-hawthorne-deming/i-m-always-writing-towards-a-discovery-when-i-m-writing-poems-in/) [Alison Hawthorne Deming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-hawthorne-deming/) > [I'm really interested in culture because it is such a powerful human force, particularly in America where we think it's all about the individual.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-hawthorne-deming/i-m-really-interested-in-culture-because-it-is-such-a-powerful-human/) [Alison Hawthorne Deming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-hawthorne-deming/) > [Climate change is a moral challenge, not simply an economic or technological problem. It is linked to social justice, because it is the poor…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-hawthorne-deming/climate-change-is-a-moral-challenge-not-simply-an-economic-or/) [Alison Hawthorne Deming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-hawthorne-deming/) > [I'm trying to learn something about making a balance between the inner life and the outer life. I wouldn't write if I didn't need…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-hawthorne-deming/i-m-trying-to-learn-something-about-making-a-balance-between-the/) [Alison Hawthorne Deming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-hawthorne-deming/) > [I'm always trying to bring as many poetic properties as possible to the essay without making it too overburdened.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-hawthorne-deming/i-m-always-trying-to-bring-as-many-poetic-properties-as-possible-to/) [Alison Hawthorne Deming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-hawthorne-deming/) [Explore all 59 Alison Hawthorne Deming quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-hawthorne-deming/) ## More Ignorance quotes > [My folks tried to make a preacher of me and missed by a narrow margin… I would have made a good one if I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/my-folks-tried-to-make-a-preacher-of-me-and-missed-by-a-narrow-margin/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [If you had made the acquiring of ignorance the study of your life, you could not have graduated with higher honor than you could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/if-you-had-made-the-acquiring-of-ignorance-the-study-of-your-life-you/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [One of the deepest and strangest of all human moods is the mood which will suddenly strike us perhaps in a garden at night,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/one-of-the-deepest-and-strangest-of-all-human-moods-is-the-mood-which/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Ignorance is not bliss — it is oblivion. Determined ignorance is the hastiest kind of oblivion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-wylie/ignorance-is-not-bliss-it-is-oblivion-determined-ignorance-is-the/) [Philip Wylie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-wylie/) > [... informed ignorance provides the natural state of mind for research scientists at the ever-shifting frontiers of knowledge. People who believe themselves ignorant of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/informed-ignorance-provides-the-natural-state-of-mind-for-research/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [“If knowledge does not liberate the self from the self, then ignorance is better than such knowledge.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hakim-sanai/if-knowledge-does-not-liberate-the-self-from-the-self-then-ignorance/) [Hakim Sanai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hakim-sanai/) > [You are senile old fool, and because of your impudence, I cannot fathom how you still live!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-are-senile-old-fool-and-because-of-your-impudence-i-cannot-fathom/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Surely, God could have caused birds to fly with their bones made of solid gold, with their veins full of quicksilver, with their flesh…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/galileo-galilei/surely-god-could-have-caused-birds-to-fly-with-their-bones-made-of/) [Galileo Galilei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/galileo-galilei/) > [“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives. A…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-madison/knowledge-will-forever-govern-ignorance-and-a-people-who-mean-to-be/) [James Madison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-madison/) > [“Don’t turn your face away. Once you’ve seen, you can no longer act like you don’t know. Open your eyes to the truth. It’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vashti-quiroz-vega/don-t-turn-your-face-away-once-you-ve-seen-you-can-no-longer-act-like/) Vashti Quiroz-Vega > [Nothing is worse than active ignorance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/nothing-is-worse-than-active-ignorance/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [The only victories which leave no regret are those which are gained over ignorance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-bonaparte/the-only-victories-which-leave-no-regret-are-those-which-are-gained/) [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-bonaparte/) > [“Those who embrace prejudice doom themselves to live in ignorance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-p-lintz-sr/those-who-embrace-prejudice-doom-themselves-to-live-in-ignorance/) John P Lintz Sr > [“You are a lawmaker in your own right.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/you-are-a-lawmaker-in-your-own-right/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [Sanity can take one of only two forms: that of ignorance, or denial.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-r-audette/sanity-can-take-one-of-only-two-forms-that-of-ignorance-or-denial/) [Derek R. Audette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-r-audette/) [Browse all 5,657 Ignorance quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ignorance/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I'm always doing poems from a place of not-knowing, a place of ignorance in a way.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Alison Hawthorne Deming" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-hawthorne-deming/i-m-always-doing-poems-from-a-place-of-not-knowing-a-place-of/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Ignorance" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-hawthorne-deming/i-m-always-doing-poems-from-a-place-of-not-knowing-a-place-of/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/49a/alison-hawthorne-deming-11586_ignorance_i-m-always-doing-poems-from-a-place-of-n_2651411.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/49a/alison-hawthorne-deming-11586_ignorance_i-m-always-doing-poems-from-a-place-of-n_2651411.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/49a/alison-hawthorne-deming-11586_ignorance_i-m-always-doing-poems-from-a-place-of-n_2651411.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I'm always doing poems from a place of not-knowing, a place of ignorance in a way.” — Alison Hawthorne Deming", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Alison Hawthorne Deming", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-hawthorne-deming/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I'm always doing poems from a...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-hawthorne-deming/i-m-always-doing-poems-from-a-place-of-not-knowing-a-place-of/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-hawthorne-deming/i-m-always-doing-poems-from-a-place-of-not-knowing-a-place-of/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```