Books Quote by Paul Celan

“Poetry, in its own way, is a carrier of the sparks, because it too comes out of silence, seeking connection with unseen others.”

— Adrienne Rich

There's a fine line between writing the poem and the poem writing itself. You have to be there and not be there, too.

— David Meltzer

Loneliness is necessary for pure poetry.

— Jack Spicer

“The writing of the poetry is natural. It's the feeling of being connected to someone which moves the pen...”

— Jr. Lily

“Poetry survives because it haunts and it haunts because it is simultaneously utterly clear and deeply mysterious; because it cannot be entirely accounted for,…

— Louise Glück

No poet is ever completely lost. He has the secret of his childhood safe with him, like some secret cave in which he can…

— Peter Ackroyd

“There is always an unspeakable where, perhaps, the nucleus of the living relation between the poem and the world resides.”

— Adrienne Rich

“The nature of poems Is a matter of words and deeds An intimate encounter of voice In the ache of the heart In the…

— Kendall Dana Lockerman

“…[O]n a poem of a bridge I contemplate the boundless silence of a slender girl our ills flow together and how, borne away, she…

— Giuseppe Ungaretti

How poetry comes to the poet is a mystery.

— John Lennon

Poetry is an orphan of silence.

— Charles Simic

The poem is not, as someone put it, deflective of entry. But the real question is, 'What happens to the reader once he or…

— Billy Collins