---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Jerome doesn't have a clue. He in fact…"
description: "\"“Jerome doesn't have a clue. He in fact avoids the poets, with their petty feuds and righteous poverty. Endlessly competitive and introspective, they l..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/09f/chris-kraus-11419_poetry_jerome-doesn-t-have-a-clue-he-in-fact-av_958209.jpg"
---

#  Jerome doesn't have a clue. He in fact avoids the poets…

![“Jerome doesn't have a clue. He in fact avoids the poets, with their petty feuds and righteous poverty. Endlessly competitive and introspective, they live in dumpy slum apartments and would knife each other for $5. Jerome prefers the painters and the film-makers who live in Soho and Tribeca…” quote by Chris Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/09f/chris-kraus-11419_poetry_jerome-doesn-t-have-a-clue-he-in-fact-av_958209.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/09f/chris-kraus-11419_poetry_jerome-doesn-t-have-a-clue-he-in-fact-av_958209.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/09f/chris-kraus-11419_poetry_jerome-doesn-t-have-a-clue-he-in-fact-av_958209.jpg)

> ““Jerome doesn't have a clue. He in fact avoids the poets, with their petty feuds and righteous poverty. Endlessly competitive and introspective, they live in dumpy slum apartments and would knife each other for $5. Jerome prefers the painters and the film-makers who live in Soho and Tribeca. There's money there, at least the things they fight about are real.””

[Chris Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-kraus/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Jerome avoids poets, preferring visual artists whose struggles feel tangible and financially grounded.

**In simple terms:** He chooses painters over poets for real‑world relevance.

Key Takeaway

Value art that aligns with personal reality.

Themes

artistic preference class perception reality vs. idealism

Mood

critical contemplative

Type

literary philosophical

When to use this quote

- career choices
- social circles
- creative collaborations

Key Concepts

cultural capital economic survival

Questions to Reflect On

- Why do you favor certain art forms?
- What can you learn from the “poet’s” worldview?

A Different Perspective

Dismisses poetry’s intangible value, limiting perspective.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/)

## Related quotes

> [I fell in love with social work, and that was my undoing as a poet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-rakosi/i-fell-in-love-with-social-work-and-that-was-my-undoing-as-a-poet/)

[Carl Rakosi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-rakosi/)

> [“I promise to respect and protect your aloneness, knowing that everything created must have its period of darkness: child and bulb, poem and personality.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-morrow-lindbergh/i-promise-to-respect-and-protect-your-aloneness-knowing-that/)

[anne morrow lindbergh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-morrow-lindbergh/)

> [I was interested in all kinds of things, whether it be Avatar, Mad Men, Troy, 300, Battlestar Gallactica, or the poems of Horace and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-mendelsohn/i-was-interested-in-all-kinds-of-things-whether-it-be-avatar-mad-men/)

[Daniel Mendelsohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-mendelsohn/)

> [The world's history is a divine poem, of which the history of every nation is a canto, and every man a word. Its strains…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-a-garfield/the-world-s-history-is-a-divine-poem-of-which-the-history-of-every/)

[James A. Garfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-a-garfield/)

> [All lyrical work must, as a whole, be perfectly intelligible, but in some particulars a little unintelligible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/all-lyrical-work-must-as-a-whole-be-perfectly-intelligible-but-in/)

[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/)

> [You don’t read or overhear the voice in the poem, you are the voice in the poem.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-vendler/you-don-t-read-or-overhear-the-voice-in-the-poem-you-are-the-voice-in/)

[Helen Vendler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-vendler/)

> [Some minds corrode and grow inactive under the loss of personal liberty; others grow morbid and irritable; but it is the nature of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/washington-irving/some-minds-corrode-and-grow-inactive-under-the-loss-of-personal/)

[Washington Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/washington-irving/)

> [“In the streets, the children scream, the lovers cried, and the poets dreamed,” he crooned, putting down the metal grill tongs to take my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexandria-clarke/in-the-streets-the-children-scream-the-lovers-cried-and-the-poets/)

[Alexandria Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexandria-clarke/)

> [The word 'mundane' has come to mean 'boring' and 'dull', and it really shouldn't - it should mean the opposite. Because it comes from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-word-mundane-has-come-to-mean-boring-and-dull-and-it-really/)

[Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/)

> [“It took me years to learn to sit at my desk for more than two minutes at a time, to put up with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/it-took-me-years-to-learn-to-sit-at-my-desk-for-more-than-two-minutes/)

[Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/)

> [The poetry from the eighteenth century was prose; the prose from the seventeenth century was poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hare/the-poetry-from-the-eighteenth-century-was-prose-the-prose-from-the/)

[David Hare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hare/)

> [“Time gives poetry to a battlefield...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/time-gives-poetry-to-a-battlefield/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [A poet is wounded into speech, and he examines these wounds, meticulously, to discover how to heal them. The bad poet harangues at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-r-delany/a-poet-is-wounded-into-speech-and-he-examines-these-wounds/)

[Samuel R. Delany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-r-delany/)

> [The name Phenomenal Woman was inspired by Maya Angelo, who wrote 'Phenomenal Woman', a favorite poem of mine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meena-harris/the-name-phenomenal-woman-was-inspired-by-maya-angelo-who-wrote/)

[Meena Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meena-harris/)

> [“Things are more like they are now...than they have EVER been before!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/uncle-arnie-mamath/things-are-more-like-they-are-now-than-they-have-ever-been-before/)

Uncle Arnie Mamath

## More by Chris Kraus

> [Why does everybody think that women are debasing themselves when we expose the conditions of our debasement?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-kraus/why-does-everybody-think-that-women-are-debasing-themselves-when-we/)

[Chris Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-kraus/)

> [Because I'm moved in writing to be irrepressible. Writing to you seems like some holy cause, cause there's not enough female irrepressibility written down.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-kraus/because-i-m-moved-in-writing-to-be-irrepressible-writing-to-you-seems/)

[Chris Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-kraus/)

> [“Back to the 1st Person: I'd even made up art theories about my inability to use it. That I'd chosen film and theater, two…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-kraus/back-to-the-1st-person-i-d-even-made-up-art-theories-about-my/)

[Chris Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-kraus/)

> [“We're touched by the nostalgia, seeing Walter at the center of our extended European family but our smarter selves find greater satisfaction knowing history…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-kraus/we-re-touched-by-the-nostalgia-seeing-walter-at-the-center-of-our/)

[Chris Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-kraus/)

> [Why do people think that we’re degraded when we’re examining positions of degradation, or examining the cycle of our own degradation?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-kraus/why-do-people-think-that-we-re-degraded-when-we-re-examining/)

[Chris Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-kraus/)

> [“It occurred to me that I was suffering from the dizziness of contradictions: the only pleasure that remains once you've decided you know better…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-kraus/it-occurred-to-me-that-i-was-suffering-from-the-dizziness-of/)

[Chris Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-kraus/)

> [“We suicide ourselves for our own survival. Is there any hope of dipping back into the past and circling round it like you can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-kraus/we-suicide-ourselves-for-our-own-survival-is-there-any-hope-of/)

[Chris Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-kraus/)

> [“No woman is an island-ess. We fall in love in hope of anchoring ourselves to someone else, to keep from falling.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-kraus/no-woman-is-an-island-ess-we-fall-in-love-in-hope-of-anchoring/)

[Chris Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-kraus/)

> [“Why does everybody think that women are debasing themselves when we expose the conditions of our own debasement? Why do women always have to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-kraus/why-does-everybody-think-that-women-are-debasing-themselves-when-we-2/)

[Chris Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-kraus/)

> [“What's the matter?" you asked, seizing an idea. "Did I burst your balloon - destroy the fantasy?" I struggled for a way to answer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-kraus/what-s-the-matter-you-asked-seizing-an-idea-did-i-burst-your-balloon/)

[Chris Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-kraus/)

> [No one...can live in this heightened state of reflective receptivity forever. Because this empathy's involuntary, there's terror here. Loss of control, a seepage. Becoming…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-kraus/no-one-can-live-in-this-heightened-state-of-reflective-receptivity/)

[Chris Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-kraus/)

> [“Isn't the greatest freedom in the world the freedom to be wrong? What hooks me on our story is our different readings of it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-kraus/isn-t-the-greatest-freedom-in-the-world-the-freedom-to-be-wrong-what/)

[Chris Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-kraus/)

> [“But since Catt was more realist than fabulist, she understood her actual death at the hands of her killer would be something much slower.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-kraus/but-since-catt-was-more-realist-than-fabulist-she-understood-her/)

[Chris Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-kraus/)

> [“Female monsters take things as personally as they really are. They study facts. Even if rejection makes them feel like the girl who's not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-kraus/female-monsters-take-things-as-personally-as-they-really-are-they/)

[Chris Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-kraus/)

> [“Desire isn't lack, it's surplus energy - a claustrophobia inside your skin -.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-kraus/desire-isn-t-lack-it-s-surplus-energy-a-claustrophobia-inside-your/)

[Chris Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-kraus/)

[Explore all 60 Chris Kraus quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-kraus/)

## More Poetry quotes

> [I fell in love with social work, and that was my undoing as a poet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-rakosi/i-fell-in-love-with-social-work-and-that-was-my-undoing-as-a-poet/)

[Carl Rakosi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-rakosi/)

> [The name Phenomenal Woman was inspired by Maya Angelo, who wrote 'Phenomenal Woman', a favorite poem of mine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meena-harris/the-name-phenomenal-woman-was-inspired-by-maya-angelo-who-wrote/)

[Meena Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meena-harris/)

> [A poet is wounded into speech, and he examines these wounds, meticulously, to discover how to heal them. The bad poet harangues at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-r-delany/a-poet-is-wounded-into-speech-and-he-examines-these-wounds/)

[Samuel R. Delany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-r-delany/)

> [“Time gives poetry to a battlefield...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/time-gives-poetry-to-a-battlefield/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [The poetry from the eighteenth century was prose; the prose from the seventeenth century was poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hare/the-poetry-from-the-eighteenth-century-was-prose-the-prose-from-the/)

[David Hare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hare/)

> [“It took me years to learn to sit at my desk for more than two minutes at a time, to put up with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/it-took-me-years-to-learn-to-sit-at-my-desk-for-more-than-two-minutes/)

[Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/)

> [The word 'mundane' has come to mean 'boring' and 'dull', and it really shouldn't - it should mean the opposite. Because it comes from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-word-mundane-has-come-to-mean-boring-and-dull-and-it-really/)

[Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/)

> [“In the streets, the children scream, the lovers cried, and the poets dreamed,” he crooned, putting down the metal grill tongs to take my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexandria-clarke/in-the-streets-the-children-scream-the-lovers-cried-and-the-poets/)

[Alexandria Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexandria-clarke/)

> [Some minds corrode and grow inactive under the loss of personal liberty; others grow morbid and irritable; but it is the nature of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/washington-irving/some-minds-corrode-and-grow-inactive-under-the-loss-of-personal/)

[Washington Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/washington-irving/)

> [You don’t read or overhear the voice in the poem, you are the voice in the poem.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-vendler/you-don-t-read-or-overhear-the-voice-in-the-poem-you-are-the-voice-in/)

[Helen Vendler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-vendler/)

> [All lyrical work must, as a whole, be perfectly intelligible, but in some particulars a little unintelligible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/all-lyrical-work-must-as-a-whole-be-perfectly-intelligible-but-in/)

[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/)

> [The world's history is a divine poem, of which the history of every nation is a canto, and every man a word. Its strains…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-a-garfield/the-world-s-history-is-a-divine-poem-of-which-the-history-of-every/)

[James A. Garfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-a-garfield/)

> [I was interested in all kinds of things, whether it be Avatar, Mad Men, Troy, 300, Battlestar Gallactica, or the poems of Horace and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-mendelsohn/i-was-interested-in-all-kinds-of-things-whether-it-be-avatar-mad-men/)

[Daniel Mendelsohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-mendelsohn/)

> [“I promise to respect and protect your aloneness, knowing that everything created must have its period of darkness: child and bulb, poem and personality.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-morrow-lindbergh/i-promise-to-respect-and-protect-your-aloneness-knowing-that/)

[anne morrow lindbergh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-morrow-lindbergh/)

> [“Things are more like they are now...than they have EVER been before!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/uncle-arnie-mamath/things-are-more-like-they-are-now-than-they-have-ever-been-before/)

Uncle Arnie Mamath

[Browse all 21,625 Poetry quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "“Jerome doesn't have a clue. He in fact avoids the poets, with their petty feuds and righteous poverty. Endlessly competitive and introspective, they live in dumpy slum apartments and would knife each other for $5. Jerome prefers the painters and the film-makers who live in Soho and Tribeca. There's money there, at least the things they fight about are real.”",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Chris Kraus"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-kraus/jerome-doesn-t-have-a-clue-he-in-fact-avoids-the-poets-with-their/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Poetry"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-kraus/jerome-doesn-t-have-a-clue-he-in-fact-avoids-the-poets-with-their/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/09f/chris-kraus-11419_poetry_jerome-doesn-t-have-a-clue-he-in-fact-av_958209.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/09f/chris-kraus-11419_poetry_jerome-doesn-t-have-a-clue-he-in-fact-av_958209.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/09f/chris-kraus-11419_poetry_jerome-doesn-t-have-a-clue-he-in-fact-av_958209.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“Jerome doesn't have a clue. He in fact avoids the poets, with their petty feuds and righteous poverty…” — Chris Kraus",
                "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": "Chris Kraus",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-kraus/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "“Jerome doesn't have a clue. He...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-kraus/jerome-doesn-t-have-a-clue-he-in-fact-avoids-the-poets-with-their/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-kraus/jerome-doesn-t-have-a-clue-he-in-fact-avoids-the-poets-with-their/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
