The storm starts when the drops start dropping. The storm stops when the drops stop dropping.
The glacier knocks in the cupboard, The desert sighs in the bed, And the crack in the teacup opens A lane to the land of the dead.
Success is counted sweetest By those who ne'er succeed. To comprehend a nectar Requires sorest need.
...a poem is just a little machine for remembering itself
Look around - there's only one thing of danger for you here - poetry
I think poetry should be alive. You should be able to dance it.
Someone says: 'Whom do you write for?' I reply: 'Do you read me?' If they say 'yes', I say, 'Do you like it?' If they say 'No,' then I say, 'I don't write for you'.
Truly fine poetry must be read aloud. A good poem does not allow itself to be read in a low voice or silently. If we can read it silently, it is not a valid poem: a poem demands pronunciation. Poetry always remembers that it was an oral art before it was a written art. It remembers that it was first song.
Poetry is what makes my toenails twinkle.
A poem is never a put-up job so to speak. It begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a love sickness. It is never a thought to begin with.