Let's say someone has experienced a violent trauma or betrayal: a child has been raped by a parent or has witnessed the destruction of someone he lov…

- Stephen Dobyns

Many of my poems try to use a comic element to reach a place that isn't comic at all. The comic element works as a surprise. It is unexpected and ene…

- Stephen Dobyns

When a philosopher, scientist, or psychologist discusses the discrepancy between the actual and the ideal, he or she attempts to convince us with the…

- Stephen Dobyns

Most women are more into real estate than sex. They want to own you.

- Stephen Dobyns

Writing is a job, a craft, and you learn it by trying to write every day and by facing the page with humility and gall. And you have to love to read …

- Stephen Dobyns

One writes a poem when one is so taken up by an emotional concept that one is unable to remain silent.

- Stephen Dobyns

Reading a good poem can give me a far bigger kick than a novel. But it's not something I can keep doing. It would be like shooting up 10 times a day.

- Stephen Dobyns

Actions have consequences. Ignorance about the nature of those actions does not free a person from responsibility for the consequences. (28)

- Stephen Dobyns

Each thing I do, I rush through, so I can do something else.

- Stephen Dobyns