14 quotes
The advantage of poetry over life is that poetry, if it is sharp enough, may last.
We look at the world once, in childhood.
The rest is memory.
Meadowlands (1996)
The soul is silent.
If it speaks at all
it speaks in dreams.
Ararat (1990)
Of two sisters
one is always the watcher,
one the dancer.
Descending Figure (1980)
I caution you as I was never cautioned
you will never let go, you will never be satiated.
The Seven Ages (2001)
The poem will not survive on content but through voice. By voice I mean the style of thought, for which a style of speech never convincingly substitutes.
Intense love always leads to mourning.
The Triumph of Achilles (1985)
My bed usually looks like Proust’s bed; my whole life is lived there.
Interview with 'Poets & Writers (2014)
The master said You must write what you see.
But what I see does not move me.
The master answered Change what you see.
Vita Nova (1999)
Overhead, noises, branches of the pine shifting.
Then nothing. The weak sun
flickered over the dry surface. It is terrible to survive
as consciousness
buried in the dark earth.
The Wild Iris (1992)
From the beginning of time,
in childhood, I thought
that pain meant
I was not loved.
It meant I loved.
Ararat (1990)
Don’t prejudge your stimuli. Just trust where your attention goes.
Interview with 'Poets & Writers (2014)
I’m an opportunist—I always hope I’ll get material out of any activity. I never know where writing is going to come from
Interview with 'Poets & Writers (2014)
Father has his arm around Tereze.
She squints. My thumb
is in my mouth: my fifth autumn.
Near the copper beech
the spaniel dozes in shadows.
Not one of us does not avert his eyes.
The House on Marshland (1975)