I'm uncomfortable with the focus on the poet and not on the poem.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of the poetry itself over the poet's identity or persona.
Yusef Komunyakaa critiques the tendency to concentrate more on the poet's background and personal story rather than the intrinsic value and meaning of the poem. He suggests that the essence and message of the poetry should take precedence, advocating for a deeper engagement with the text itself rather than the author's biography.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about the role of authorship in literary analysis.
Students often have such a lofty idea of what a poem is, and I want them to realize that their own lives are where the poetry comes from. The most important things are to respect the language; to know the classical rules, even if only to break them; and to be prepared to edit, to revise, to shape.
It wasn't a deliberate decision to become a poet. It was something I found myself doing - and loving. Language became an addiction.
We have to embrace the good over the bad. That has to be one's personal project.
I originally wanted to embrace the imagery and forthrightness of rap music. There are some interesting, dynamic voices in rap. But I find most of it irresponsible in its overt violence and commercialization of anger. As artists, we believe we can will action through language. If that's the case, we have to take responsibility for what we say.
Poetry helps me understand who I am. It helps me understand the world around me. But above all, what poetry has taught me is the fact that I need to embrace mystery in order to be completely human.
Tonight I feel the stars are out_x000D_ to use me for target practice.
A dancer must listen to his body and pay homage to it. Behind the movement lies this terrible, driving passion, this necessity. I won't settle for anything less.
Nobody, I think, ought to read poetry, or look at pictures or statues, who cannot find a great deal more in them than the poet or artist has actually expressed. Their highest merit is suggestiveness.
It is a mistake for a sculptor or a painter to speak or write very often about his job. It releases tension needed for his work.
Usually, I have a lot of acquaintance with the story before I start writing it. When I didn't have regular time to give to writing, stories would just be working in my head for so long that when I started to write I was deep into them. Now, I do that work by filling notebooks.
All art is a memory of age-old things, dark things, whose fragments live on in the artist.
Stories helped me unite parts of my existence that might otherwise have seemed irrevocably split by geography and time. And stories helped me find a future in which I, such a mongrel, could be comfortable.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.