James Tate

“When one is highly alert to language, then nearly everything begs to be a poem.”

— James Tate

William Waltz will take me through 'the buzz and clamor in a forest of hearts.' Adventures in the Lost Interiors of America…

— James Tate

“He is being nibbled to death by ducks. --More Later, Less the Same”

— James Tate

“I couldn’t even picture Mavis’s face anymore. It was sad. She was being erased. I wanted to put my finger on her…

— James Tate

“They didn't have much trouble teaching the ape to write poems: first they strapped him into a chair, then tied the pencil…

— James Tate

“I was outside St. Cecelia's Rectory smoking a cigarette when a goat appeared beside me. It was mostly black and white, with…

— James Tate

“for my father, 1922-1944 Your face did not rot like the others--the co-pilot, for example, I saw him yesterday. His face is…

— James Tate

“almost exquisite, the slight madness”

— James Tate

“Having gray hair doesn't matter but having gray matter matters. ”

— James Tate

“I am not a part of this home any longer. I am a tiny thing created by indifferent scientists. I am an…

— James Tate

Poetry is everywhere; it just needs editing.

— James Tate

“Everybody who was anybody seemed to be going to a meeting, the glowworm, who was a solipsist, the lemur who was not.”

— James Tate

The challenge is always to find the ultimate in the ordinary horseshit.

— James Tate

“Jesus got up one day a little later than usual. He had been dreaming so deep there was nothing left in his…

— James Tate

In You Are Not Dead Wendy Xu breaks all the old rules that have never done us any favors anyway. She writes…

— James Tate

“A Knock On The Door They ask me if I've ever thought about the end of the world, and I say, "Come…

— James Tate

Something should always change in a poem. The persona should learn something.

— James Tate