I think translation is an impossible job, and I admire the people who do it in a way that brings poetry to us that we wouldn't have access to.

- Joan Larkin

Keep growing. Stay awake. Beware of gurus. Keep a low overhead.

- Joan Larkin

My books have come many years apart and each one seems to reflect a period of experience. Ending the book is like putting a period on a certain movem…

- Joan Larkin

I'm much more capable of cutting back than of expanding. I've gotten very surgical about poems.

- Joan Larkin

People want poetry and need it - we need what's not honored by the corporate mentality that has taken over. It gives people a language for responding…

- Joan Larkin

Rhythms and sounds are often the first thing I hear and want in a poem, so I can't imagine trying to translate something without at least being able …

- Joan Larkin

It takes courage to get clear about what your vision of the work is and to be persistent about it and pursue it, whatever you're saying. I'm still in…

- Joan Larkin

Teaching has given me a community that cares about poetry, and I'm grateful for that.

- Joan Larkin

People need what they think of as a poem to be read at their bar mitzvah, their wedding, a funeral, whatever. And people are looking for hope and ins…

- Joan Larkin