I've always been more than a little mystified by poets who seem to think talking to people as directly as possible is a bad thing. I mean, I don't want to set up a straw man here: I understand that for many poets - and for me, at times - writing truly means writing in a way that is difficult, simply because the poem is trying to grasp for something elusive. So the difficulty of the poem is just unavoidable, and not in any way artificially imposed. So "as possible" is the key part of the phrase above, I suppose.
Milton on speed. I am going to need about a decade to think about that. That delay in syntax, the putting off of the click of the sentence into itsel… - Matthew Zapruder
Milton on speed. I am going to need about a decade to think about that. That delay in syntax, the putting off of the click of the sentence into itsel…
- Matthew Zapruder
Reading a poem is a real thing, a worthy thing. So to be there right with the reader at that moment is part of the effect of a title like "Poem for" … - Matthew Zapruder
Reading a poem is a real thing, a worthy thing. So to be there right with the reader at that moment is part of the effect of a title like "Poem for" …
Thinking in prose is different. I gained an immense amount of respect for people who write prose, and also felt even more sure that the thinking part… - Matthew Zapruder
Thinking in prose is different. I gained an immense amount of respect for people who write prose, and also felt even more sure that the thinking part…
Something can be symbolic without being a mere stand-in or vessel, which just brings us away from the true mystery and dread, into some boring versio… - Matthew Zapruder
Something can be symbolic without being a mere stand-in or vessel, which just brings us away from the true mystery and dread, into some boring versio…
I personally believe the role of poets as poets (which is something different from our obligations as citizens, community members, humans) is to writ… - Matthew Zapruder
I personally believe the role of poets as poets (which is something different from our obligations as citizens, community members, humans) is to writ…
I see sad crushed plastic everywhere and put some thoughts composed of words that do not belong together together and feel a little digital hope. - Matthew Zapruder
I see sad crushed plastic everywhere and put some thoughts composed of words that do not belong together together and feel a little digital hope.
All my closest friends came to me through poetry. My wife, too! Other than my family, poetry is the gravitational force of my life. - Matthew Zapruder
All my closest friends came to me through poetry. My wife, too! Other than my family, poetry is the gravitational force of my life.
That choice to be ready to reject all other purposes, in favor of the possibilities of language freed from utility, is when the writer becomes a poet. - Matthew Zapruder
That choice to be ready to reject all other purposes, in favor of the possibilities of language freed from utility, is when the writer becomes a poet.
If freedom in the imagination is a privilege, it's one I believe everyone should have, as a basic human right. I also believe that poems not only mak… - Matthew Zapruder
If freedom in the imagination is a privilege, it's one I believe everyone should have, as a basic human right. I also believe that poems not only mak…
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