Containers Quote by Stephen Vincent Benet

The pleasure that I take in writing gets me interested in writing a poem. It's not a statement about what I think anybody else…

— Marilyn Hacker

One reason to write a poem is to flush from the deep thickets of the self some thought, feeling, comprehension, question, music, you didn't…

— Jane Hirshfield

I like it when poems are challenging, when they concern matters important and personal to the author.

— Cate Marvin

I like poems that inspire, that make us think and reflect. It's like putting love into the world for whoever picks it up.

— Peleg Top

At each moment, a poem might grow into a totally different shape. It is not so much like working in a garden. It is…

— Alice Oswald

I would rather write poems than prose, any day, any place. Yet each has its own force.

— Mary Oliver

I'm finding that writing poetry is strengthening my songwriting, because you're learning to make a piece of writing work on a page with nothing…

— PJ Harvey

I think of my best poems as vessels that I can or hope to fill with everything I have. I try to give to…

— Alex Lemon

Once an interesting idea or theme occurs to me then I would want to write a poem about it. The rest, frankly, is not…

— Ama Ata Aidoo

I think I'm drawn to writing about something which feels intense and important.

— Rose Tremain

If I'm working on a poem, it's at the forefront of my mind; I'm working on it when I'm cooking dinner or stretched out…

— Maxine Kumin

I've been writing a lot of poetry recently. It helps me think and work things out.

— Ed Westwick