I wanted to write the kind of poetry that people read and remembered, that they lived by - the kinds of lines that I carried with me from moment to moment on a given day without even having chosen to.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a desire to create poetry that resonates deeply and becomes part of daily life.
Tracy K. Smith articulates a profound longing to craft poetry that not only captivates readers but also embeds itself into their consciousness, becoming a vital aspect of their daily experiences. She wishes her verses to be so impactful that they are remembered and lived by, suggesting that poetry can serve as a guiding force and a source of inspiration in everyday moments.
In practice
This quote could be used during a spoken word event to emphasize the impact of poetry on everyday life.
We all need poetry. The moments in our lives that are characterized by language that has to do with necessity or the market, or just, you know, things that take us away from the big questions that we have, those are the things that I think urge us to think about what a poem can offer.
I love the sense of looking at the sad, paltry, and yet very familiar spectacle that we must make from moment to moment in our lives, and in our frenzy, as something that's as out there as alien life.
Losing my father made me want to find out if I could come up with a version of God or the afterlife that I could feel like was acceptable now that both my parents are in it.
Prose is something that is persistent in staying in one place long enough to not only zero in on the dramatic effect of something that might have happened, or something that might have been seen, but also in watching how it played out and thinking about the cause and the effect.
A question is a pursuit, an invitation to envision and explore a series of possibilities, to struggle and empathize and doubt and believe. The question moves, whereas our sense of what an answer is can often be static, a stopping point.
I had to say to myself, 'I haven't written enough about blackness, yet it's part of my consciousness and my lived experience.' I had to get over that anxiety of 'I haven't done this before.'
The music of Africa is big sound: it's the sound of a community
The creative act is not hanging on, but yielding to a new creative movement. Awe is what moves us forward.
What makes a good book? Scholars and critics have been debating that question for decades. I like books that touch my head and my heart at the same time.
The flavor of wine is like delicate poetry.
But I owe something to Vincent, and that is, in the consciousness of having been useful to him, the confirmation of my own original ideas about painting. And also, at difficult moments, the remembrance that one finds others unhappier than oneself.
Dumbing down takes many forms: art that is good for you, museums that flatter you, universities that increase your self-esteem. Culture, after all, is really about you.
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