Poetry is a fireplace in summer or a fan in winter.
There are moments when the body is as numinous as words, days that are the good flesh continuing. Such tenderness, those afternoons and evenings, saying blackberry, blackberry, blackberry.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the beauty and significance of certain moments in life that evoke deep feelings and connections.
In this quote, Robert Hass captures the essence of moments in life where physical experiences and emotions intertwine, illustrating how everyday sensations, such as the taste of blackberries, can become profound reminders of tenderness and connection with the world around us. It emphasizes that within the routine of our days, there exist fleeting instances that hold tremendous beauty and emotional weight, transcending the ordinary.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a poetry reading at a local cafΓ©, one may use this quote to illustrate the emotional depth that art can convey.
More from Robert Hass
All quotes βSometimes from this hillside just after sunset The rim of the sky takes on a tinge Of the palest green, like the flesh of a cucumber When you peel it carefully.
Take the time to write. You can do your life's work in half an hour a day.
I think that the job of poetry, its political job, is to refresh the idea of justice, which is going dead in us all the time.
When I was younger, I was so crazy about poetry that I didn't notice who was noticing. It seemed to me so tremendous and large.
Writing is an incessant process of discovery.
Similar quotes
Very quickly a painting is turned into a facsimile of itself when one becomes so familiar with with it that one recognizes it without looking at it.
It's true that writing is a solitary occupation, but you would be surprised at how much companionship a group of imaginary characters can offer once you get to know them.
It's the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors.
Art is our defense against hysteria and death.
The one thing a writer has to have is a pencil and some paper. That's enough, so long as she knows that she and she alone is in charge of that pencil, and responsible, she and she alone, for what it writes on that paper.
I certainly had no feeling for harmony, and Schoenberg thought that that would make it impossible for me to write music. He said, 'You'll come to a wall you won't be able to get through.' So I said, 'I'll beat my head against that wall.'