A poem is a serious joke, a truth that has learned jujitsu.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that poetry balances seriousness with humor, embodying truths that adapt and defend themselves through cleverness.
William Staffordβs quote presents poetry as a unique blend of seriousness and playfulness, akin to a serious joke. In this metaphor, the 'truth' that poetry conveys is compared to jujitsu, which is a martial art that uses an opponent's force against them. This implies that poetry can take weighty truths and maneuver them in ways that make them more accessible or defensible, transforming complex emotions and ideas into something that can be both profound and enjoyable.
In practice
In a discussion about the nature of poetry, one could use this quote to highlight how poems convey deep truths while still engaging the reader's sense of humor.
I keep following this sort of hidden river of my life, you know, whatever the topic or impulse which comes, I follow it along trustingly. And I don't have any sense of its coming to a kind of crescendo, or of its petering out either. It is just going steadily along.
They miss the whisper that runs any day in your mind, "Who are you really, wanderer?"-- and the answer you have to give no matter how dark and cold the world around you is: "Maybe I'm a king.
A speech is something you say so as to distract attention from what you do not say.
The things you do not have to say make you rich. Saying things you do not have to say weakens your talk. Hearing things you do not need to hear dulls your hearing. And things you know before you hear them β those are you, those are why you are in the world.
So, the world happens twice--_x000D_ once what we see it as;_x000D_ second it legends itself_x000D_ deep, the way it is.
The earth says have a place, be what that place_x000D_ requires; hear the sound the birds imply_x000D_ and see as deep as ridges go behind_x000D_ each other.
Whenever I sit with a bowl of soup before me, listening to the murmur that penetrates like the distant song of an insect, lost in contemplation of the flavours to come, I feel as if I were being drawn into a trance.
Today, although as a whole, the industry is still male-dominated, more women are drawing comics than ever before, and there are more venues for them to see their work in print. In the 1950s, when the comic industry hit an all-time low, there was no place for women to go. Today, because of graphic novels, there's no place for aspiring women cartoonists to go but forward.
I wanted to be a scientist. I did a thesis on lions. But I realised photography can show things writing can't. Lions were my professor of photography.
I cannot imagine any writer who would not fight for his peace and quiet.
Animation is the one type of movie that really does play for the entire audience. Our challenge is to make stories that connect for kids and adults.
Obviously I am a photographer and I believe in my medium: I do think that powerful photographs can force change. It doesn't take long to look and be engaged in a strong image whereas, with a story, you have to actually sit down and pause and be involved in it.
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