For the Christian mystics, detachment meant to leave attachment so that God could enter you and take over completely and you could climb the ladder t….

You could be attached to merely a description of a plant or a flower. Or a narrative of an event. Or rage at injustice. Isaiah and the other Hebrew p….

Oppressed cultures often envy those which are not, or oppressed individuals do, and sometimes those which - and who - are not envy those which - who ….

I will look at the footprints going in and out of the water and dream up a small blue good to talk to..

Men aren't called pricks, but women are called cunts..

The cave is a dark, shadowy place. It's a place that's very close and yet distant at the same time, and it's a place of revelation and isolation. You….

Attachment has to do with suffering, so it's really close to Buddhism, because Buddhism wants to relieve you from suffering; you're supposed to escap….

All of a sudden I understand why I like Aliki Barnstones poems so much. They remind me of the one she has studied most - shall we call her her master….

The act of writing itself isn't outrageous. And the institution subtly and insidiously works on you in such a way that though you seem to have freedo….

Sometimes a person thinks he's attached to one thing and he's really attached to something else..

I feel that my job, as an artist, is to disturb the peace. And to disturb it intellectually, linguistically, politically and literally..

Political means so many things. We are political willy-nilly. Political poetry is an easy invitation to disaster. But then so is love poetry. But we ….

The artist looks for a subject. You know, a lot of new poets don't seem to have a subject. I don't totally understand that..

Humor is not funny. Humor is something else. Funny is a joke, sometimes silly. Comedy is deep and connected to tragedy; comedy could be deeper than t….

Maybe being an artist is a kind of detachment. You're in the cave, you're isolated, you're apart from everything and it's there you can find out what….

If you don't have a bed, or a dresser or a wall, or a book or a toy you are oppressed. An African American in a white world. A Jew in a Christian wor….

It's a kind of liberation to break free in language, if you can break free, but it's also a confinement, because form confines you - whatever the for….

Tolstoy is one of the greatest artists in history, but he finally became infused with the idea of the uselessness of art. He gave himself to his own ….

I've changed over my writing life. If I can generalize, I would say that the more recent poems - believe it or not - are more pointedly political; al….

I've been trying to come to terms with what I am and what I do and what I believe in. And I see that I'm not happy with - well, it's almost as if bei….

Bruce Smith is a tender master of music, and beautiful lines, and complex thoughts, and fascinating wild personal and cultural references..