Anxious Quote by Shane McCrae

I am uncomfortable with talking of poetry as a priestly profession, because I have little use for organized religions and priestly hierarchies. They have…

— Adrienne Rich

For me, poetry is a form of activism. And that word enables the labelers, and also gives them a rash.

— Fady Joudah

"Confessional poetry" is another one of those labels. It goes in and out of fashion.

— Matthea Harvey

People in power tend to find poetry dangerous to them because it is dislocating, they can't catch it, can't control it. They prefer coherence,…

— Elia Suleiman

Poetry is something that disturbs the mainstream with minor things and it is something that breaks down active discrimination with passive things, and it…

— Kim Hyesoon

I certainly can't speak for all cultures or all societies, but it's clear that in America, poetry serves a very marginal purpose. It's not…

— Mark Strand

I think that the moment we're living in offers the best opportunity we've had in a long time in that a lot of things…

— Shane McCrae

American poetry is always about defining oneself individually,claiming one's right to be different and often to break taboos.

— Diane Wakoski

Poetry reaches into places in us that we are suppose to ignore or mistrust, that are perceived as subversive or non-useful, in what is…

— Adrienne Rich

By definition, poetry works with qualities and dynamics that mainstream society is reluctant to face head-on. It's an interesting phenomenon that by necessity, poetry…

— David Whyte

When people decide to talk publicly about poetry as an art form and how it's received, they often get very abject about it: "Nobody…

— Eileen Myles

Poetry is not a civilizer, rather the reverse, for great poetry appeals to the most primitive instincts.

— Robinson Jeffers