Poetry Meme

I’m self-tagging myself for this meme from Olie’s blog:




Give us at least 10 quotations pertaining to poetry—from 10 different writers and/or poets—that best coincide with your philosophy, vis-à-vis ars poetica. They can be posthumous or otherwise. The order is not important—unless it is to you.







1. “Sometimes you have to make an ass of yourself.” ~ Robert Creeley




2. “Poetry is about trying to get strangers to get interested in your perspective. Your friends will listen, but strangers?” ~ Billy Collins




3. “I feel that I have found the recipe that makes my life work.” ~ Li-Young Lee




4. “I don't think that sex has been written about a lot in poetry. And I want to be able to write about any subject.” ~Sharon Olds




5. “Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself…” ~ Walt Whitman




6. “It is difficult to get the news from poems yet men die miserably every day for lack of what is found there.” ~William Carols Williams




7. “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” ~Virginia Woolf (I think a woman needs twice as much money if she writes poetry!)



8. “Well, don't kid yourself, I got plenty of crummy poems that I think I might use.” ~Phil Levine



9. “When my first book was published—and I like to say this so women can hear it—my children were 7,5,4,3,2, and 1.” ~ Lucille Clifton




10. “I move to keep things whole” ~ Mark Strand

Comments

GreenishLady said…
Very inspiring, especially Numbers 1, 5 and 9. My favourite, my mantra is Natalie Goldberg's "You are not your poem".
Anonymous said…
Number 6 says it all for me
January said…
The Lucille Clifton quote is my favorite. But each one highlights some part of my personality.

You should try the meme and see what you come up with!
Anonymous said…
Forgive my ignorance but what exactly is a meme? I get the picture from the example but am a bit puzzled?
January said…
From Merriam-Webster's online dictionary, a meme is an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture.

In the blogosphere, a meme is a prompt or a Q&A that is posted by a blogger and is picked up by other bloggers. So the answers/responses are different from blog to blog. Does that make sense?
Anonymous said…
Yes, thanks. Will give it a try after some thought.Probably take me days!
January said…
Excellent! Let me know when you do.
Oohh...I might have to self-tag myself for this one too. Number 3 made me swoon...honestly, I love Li-Young Lee.
Love,
D.
This is a great list of quotes! Makes me want to look some out!

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