I can't imagine ever writing anything of any kind on a machine. I never tried to write either poetry or prose on a typewriter. I like to do it on useless paper, scrap paper, because it's of no importance.
W. S. MerwinRead
What I really believe is the only hopeful relation between our life and the whole of life is one of reverence and respect and of feeling at one with it. The other attitude which is the one our society is based on is devastating and it is killing the earth and it is killing us too.
Interpretation
We must respect and feel connected to life to foster hope; otherwise, our destructive attitudes harm both the earth and humanity.
In this quote, W. S. Merwin emphasizes the importance of reverence and respect for life as a means to foster hope and connection with the broader existence. He contrasts this positive attitude with the destructive mindset prevalent in society, which he asserts is detrimental to both the planet and humanity, highlighting the urgency for a shift in perspective to combat environmental and existential crises.
In practice
This quote could be used in a speech about environmental awareness at a community gathering.
I can't imagine ever writing anything of any kind on a machine. I never tried to write either poetry or prose on a typewriter. I like to do it on useless paper, scrap paper, because it's of no importance.
I think there's a kind of desperate hope built into poetry that one really wants, hopelessly, to save the world. One is trying to say everything that can be said for the things that one loves while there's still time.
The kind of writing that matters most to me is something you don't learn about. It's constantly coming out of what I don't know rather than what I do know.
I say to my breath once again, little breath come from in front of me, go away behind me, row me quietly now, as far as you can, for I am an abyss that I am trying to cross.
Through all of youth I was looking for you_x000D_ without knowing what I was looking for_x000D_ part memory part distance remaining _x000D_ mine in the ways that I learn to miss you_x000D_ from what we cannot hold the stars are made.
I go five steps in the garden, and I immediately lose track of time... it is a kind of joy in being alive in being in the world. I always found that in the garden. That is what it means to me.
If the spiritual universe and the way to it were shown, No one would remain in this world for a single moment.
We must have a real living determination to reach holiness. ''I will be a saint'' means I will despoil myself of all that is not God; I will strip my heart of all created things; I will live in poverty and detachment; I will renounce my will, my inclinations, my whims and fancies, and make make myself a willing slave to the will of God.
It is not worth the bother of killing yourself, since you always kill yourself too late.
The historical sense involves a perception, not only of the pastness of the past, but of its presence
My facts shall be falsehoods to the common sense. I would so state facts that they shall be significant, shall be myths or mythologic. Facts which the mind perceived, thoughts which the body thought - with these I deal.
Nonviolence against humans cannot take firm hold in society as long as brutality and violence are practiced toward other animals.
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