Best Quote by Andrew Motion

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

— Tony Harrison

A poet is not a public figure. A poet should be read and not seen.

— Cecil Day-Lewis

I think of my poems as personal and public at the same time. You could say they serve as psychological overlays. One fits on…

— Yusef Komunyakaa

A poem is a private story, after all, no matter how apparently public. The reader is always overhearing a confession.

— Jorie Graham

But at the beginning it was clear to me that concrete poetry was peculiarly suited for using in public settings. This was my idea,…

— Ian Hamilton Finlay

“Government property. Trespassers will be prosecuted." The sweetest poetry is written on the signs you walk up to from the back, and the best…

— Vironika Tugaleva

Some poems present themselves as cliffs that need to be climbed. Others are so defensive that when you approach their enclosure you half expect…

— Stanley Kunitz

It's a good thing to get poetry off the shelves and more into public life.

— Billy Collins

Poetry can't give us the laws and institutions and representatives, the antidotes we need: only public activism by massive numbers of citizens can do…

— Adrienne Rich

I believe that poets have to be inside their poems somewhere, or the poem won't work.

— Joy Harjo

Write verse, not poetry. The public wants verse. If you have a talent for poetry, then don't by any means mother it, but try…

— Robert W. Service

“Even the simplest poem May destroy your immunity to human emotions. All poems must carry a Government warning. Words Can seriously affect your heart.”

— Elma Mitchell