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
What's wrong with hip-hop is the system that controls the definition of it. There needs to be more balance on the airwaves.
A Poem does not grow by jerks. As trees in Spring produce a new ring of tissue, so does every poet put forth a fresh outlay of stuff at the same season.
The urge to make art or contemplate philosophy does not go away when you are sick. Those urges just become transfigured by illness.
I want paint to work as flesh... my portraits to be of the people, not like them. Not having a look of the sitter, being them ... As far as I am concerned the paint is the person. I want it to work for me just as flesh does.
A great many people seem to think writing poetry is worthwhile, even though it pays next to nothing and is not as widely read as it should be.
What reinforces the content of a photograph is the sense of rhythm - the relationship between shapes and values.