--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I make work that is many things at once…" description: "\"“I make work that is many things at once: poems that are prose, that are pictures, that are poem and picture. Actions that are images using poems that ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/be9/jen-besemer-247144_poetics_i-make-work-that-is-many-things-at-once_614757.jpg" --- # I make work that is many things at once: poems that are… ![“I make work that is many things at once: poems that are prose, that are pictures, that are poem and picture. Actions that are images using poems that are umbrellas. My best work is both/and, in-between, occupying several dimensions simultaneously. (from my Poetics Statement in Troubling the Line)” quote by Jen Besemer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/be9/jen-besemer-247144_poetics_i-make-work-that-is-many-things-at-once_614757.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/be9/jen-besemer-247144_poetics_i-make-work-that-is-many-things-at-once_614757.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/be9/jen-besemer-247144_poetics_i-make-work-that-is-many-things-at-once_614757.jpg) > ““I make work that is many things at once: poems that are prose, that are pictures, that are poem and picture. Actions that are images using poems that are umbrellas. My best work is both/and, in-between, occupying several dimensions simultaneously. (from my Poetics Statement in Troubling the Line)”” [Jen Besemer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jen-besemer/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The poet creates hybrid works that blend poems, prose, images, and concepts, occupying multiple artistic dimensions. **In simple terms:** Hybrid art mixes words, pictures, and ideas. Key Takeaway Explore interdisciplinary creativity. Themes art poetry interdisciplinary hybrid creativity Mood experimental inquisitive Type theoretical artistic When to use this quote - creative workshops - visual poetry - cross‑media projects Key Concepts multimodal expression conceptual art Questions to Reflect On - What does “both/and” mean in art? - How can multiple dimensions enhance meaning? A Different Perspective Audience may find hybrids confusing. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Poems Prose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poems-prose-1292012/) [Poems Umbrellas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poems-umbrellas-4985790/) [Poetics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetics/) [Poetics Statement](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetics-statement-4985789/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Simultaneously Poetics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/simultaneously-poetics-4985788/) [Using Poems](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/using-poems-4985791/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [neither poems nor prose just a length of rope just the wet earth -- that's the way home. neither vodka nor bread just bursts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tadeusz-borowski/neither-poems-nor-prose-just-a-length-of-rope-just-the-wet-earth-that/) [Tadeusz Borowski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tadeusz-borowski/) > [My poems and prose are not often in direct conversation with each other, but there's so much crossover - everything that comes out of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-lemon/my-poems-and-prose-are-not-often-in-direct-conversation-with-each/) [Alex Lemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-lemon/) > [I would rather write poems than prose, any day, any place. Yet each has its own force.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/i-would-rather-write-poems-than-prose-any-day-any-place-yet-each-has/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [I've been writing poems since I was in the Navy - to Rosalynn. I found I could say things in poems that I never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jimmy-carter/i-ve-been-writing-poems-since-i-was-in-the-navy-to-rosalynn-i-found-i/) [Jimmy Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jimmy-carter/) > [To my mind, most prose poems are more prose than poetry. They don't possess most of the qualities of a poem.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pattiann-rogers/to-my-mind-most-prose-poems-are-more-prose-than-poetry-they-don-t/) [Pattiann Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pattiann-rogers/) > [“There is a thin line between poetry and word salad.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-carl-evans/there-is-a-thin-line-between-poetry-and-word-salad/) [Richard Carl Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-carl-evans/) > [“The genuine artist, Harris is saying, finds reality in a point of identity between subject and object, a point at which the created world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/northrop-frye/the-genuine-artist-harris-is-saying-finds-reality-in-a-point-of/) [Northrop Frye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/northrop-frye/) > [“And the beautiful lady, still with her beautiful wasp’s waist, the very beautiful lady whose charms buzz around our childish dreams, will not turn…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-leiris/and-the-beautiful-lady-still-with-her-beautiful-wasp-s-waist-the-very/) [Michel Leiris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-leiris/) > [“Human beings, in a sense, may be thought of as multidimensional creatures composed of such poetic considerations as the individual need for self-realization, subdued…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aberjhani/human-beings-in-a-sense-may-be-thought-of-as-multidimensional/) [Aberjhani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aberjhani/) > [“Midway between the too soiled ground and the too-sublime vaults, at the level of the air, entering the skin of the role, poetry plays…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-leiris/midway-between-the-too-soiled-ground-and-the-too-sublime-vaults-at/) [Michel Leiris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-leiris/) > [“The appropriation of the creativity-procreativity metaphor by women is a conscious challenge to traditional poetics and beyond that to traditional metaphysics, for the gynocentric…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alicia-ostriker/the-appropriation-of-the-creativity-procreativity-metaphor-by-women/) [Alicia Ostriker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alicia-ostriker/) > [“To Wallace Stevens' post-Nietzschean formula 'God and the imagination are one,' these women poets would add a crucial third element: God and the imagination…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alicia-ostriker/to-wallace-stevens-post-nietzschean-formula-god-and-the-imagination/) [Alicia Ostriker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alicia-ostriker/) > [Poetics is a science for stammering poets.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-geok-lin-lim/poetics-is-a-science-for-stammering-poets/) [Shirley Geok-lin Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-geok-lin-lim/) > [“The novel has accompanied man uninterruptedly and faithfully since the beginning of the Modern Era. It was then that the "passion to know," which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/the-novel-has-accompanied-man-uninterruptedly-and-faithfully-since/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > [“With women poets we look at or into, but not up at, sacred things; we unlearn submission.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alicia-ostriker/with-women-poets-we-look-at-or-into-but-not-up-at-sacred-things-we/) [Alicia Ostriker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alicia-ostriker/) ## More Poetics quotes > [“With women poets we look at or into, but not up at, sacred things; we unlearn submission.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alicia-ostriker/with-women-poets-we-look-at-or-into-but-not-up-at-sacred-things-we/) [Alicia Ostriker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alicia-ostriker/) > [“The novel has accompanied man uninterruptedly and faithfully since the beginning of the Modern Era. It was then that the "passion to know," which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/the-novel-has-accompanied-man-uninterruptedly-and-faithfully-since/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > [Poetics is a science for stammering poets.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-geok-lin-lim/poetics-is-a-science-for-stammering-poets/) [Shirley Geok-lin Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-geok-lin-lim/) > [“To Wallace Stevens' post-Nietzschean formula 'God and the imagination are one,' these women poets would add a crucial third element: God and the imagination…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alicia-ostriker/to-wallace-stevens-post-nietzschean-formula-god-and-the-imagination/) [Alicia Ostriker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alicia-ostriker/) > [“The appropriation of the creativity-procreativity metaphor by women is a conscious challenge to traditional poetics and beyond that to traditional metaphysics, for the gynocentric…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alicia-ostriker/the-appropriation-of-the-creativity-procreativity-metaphor-by-women/) [Alicia Ostriker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alicia-ostriker/) > [“Midway between the too soiled ground and the too-sublime vaults, at the level of the air, entering the skin of the role, poetry plays…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-leiris/midway-between-the-too-soiled-ground-and-the-too-sublime-vaults-at/) [Michel Leiris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-leiris/) > [“Human beings, in a sense, may be thought of as multidimensional creatures composed of such poetic considerations as the individual need for self-realization, subdued…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aberjhani/human-beings-in-a-sense-may-be-thought-of-as-multidimensional/) [Aberjhani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aberjhani/) > [“And the beautiful lady, still with her beautiful wasp’s waist, the very beautiful lady whose charms buzz around our childish dreams, will not turn…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-leiris/and-the-beautiful-lady-still-with-her-beautiful-wasp-s-waist-the-very/) [Michel Leiris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-leiris/) > [“The genuine artist, Harris is saying, finds reality in a point of identity between subject and object, a point at which the created world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/northrop-frye/the-genuine-artist-harris-is-saying-finds-reality-in-a-point-of/) [Northrop Frye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/northrop-frye/) > [“There is a thin line between poetry and word salad.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-carl-evans/there-is-a-thin-line-between-poetry-and-word-salad/) [Richard Carl Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-carl-evans/) > [One of the things I've always thought is that if I were to write a poetics, it would have to do with the poetics…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-ronk/one-of-the-things-i-ve-always-thought-is-that-if-i-were-to-write-a/) [Martha Ronk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-ronk/) > [“at man’s height the mouth utters its cries, tosses forth its oracles, gives vent to its puns. To allow words to come to life,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-leiris/at-man-s-height-the-mouth-utters-its-cries-tosses-forth-its-oracles/) [Michel Leiris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-leiris/) > [Signs of a maddening system of writing and counting that calibrates the values of something the poet does not yet know. Praxis is therefore…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-geok-lin-lim/signs-of-a-maddening-system-of-writing-and-counting-that-calibrates/) [Shirley Geok-lin Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-geok-lin-lim/) > [The formal stuff feels old and windy. Not to say you shouldn't know prosody. But it's a wonderful time for exploratory poetics. Contemporary poets…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-waldman/the-formal-stuff-feels-old-and-windy-not-to-say-you-shouldn-t-know/) [Anne Waldman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-waldman/) > [“Neuere Poeten tun viel Wasser in die Tinte. (More recent poets put a lot of water in the ink.) -- Goethe: Aus Makariens Archiv.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/neuere-poeten-tun-viel-wasser-in-die-tinte-more-recent-poets-put-a/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 29 Poetics quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetics/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I make work that is many things at once: poems that are prose, that are pictures, that are poem and picture. Actions that are images using poems that are umbrellas. My best work is both/and, in-between, occupying several dimensions simultaneously. 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