Guilt Quote by Rita Dove

In my own work, I usually revise through forty or fifty drafts of a poem before I begin to feel content with it.

— Mary Oliver

I would not say I chose to write long poems on a conscious level. The long poem has been a relative constant.

— Anonymous

Sometimes I write quickly, sometimes I spend several weeks on a single poem. I would really love for readers not to be able to…

— Wislawa Szymborska

Some poems take two to three years to finish. Rarely, a poem will arrive whole. It's nice when that happens. However, process has become…

— Cate Marvin

I cannot speak for more than an hour exclusively about poetry. At that point, life itself takes over again.

— Wislawa Szymborska

I write one poem a year, usually in January or February.

— Emily Susan Rapp

I never think of my audience when I write a poem. I try to write out of whatever is haunting me; in order for…

— Rita Dove

I wish I'd been better able to resist the sense of obligation to write some of the poems I did. It's in the nature…

— Andrew Motion

I usually do at least a dozen drafts and progressively make more-conscious decisions. Because I've always believed stories are closer to poems than novels,…

— Ron Rash

Once a year I try writing a poem, usually because I've read some poetry that amazed me and I want to do that.

— Steve Toltz

I need about one hundred fifty drafts of a poem to get it right, and fifty more to make it sound spontaneous.

— James Dickey

It sounds shameful, but on my best days I write only about three or four hours.

— Anne Bernays