All Quotes By Tag: Poetry

“The secret of poetry is never explained – is always new. We have not got farther than mere wonder at the delicacy of the touch, & the eternity it inherits. In every house a child that in mere play utters oracles, & knows not that they are such. ‘Tis as easy as breath. ‘Tis like this gravity, which holds the Universe together, & none knows what it is.”

“At NightLove said, “Wake still and think of me,”Sleep, “Close your eyes till break of day,”But Dreams came by and smilinglyGave both to Love and Sleep their way.”

“This cruel age has deflected me,like a river from this course.Strayed from its familiar shores,my changeling life has flowedinto a sister channel.How many spectacles I’ve missed:the curtain rising without me,and falling too. How many friendsI never had the chance to meet.”

“Little CinderGirl, they can’t understand you.You rise from the as-heap in a blazeand only then do they recognize you as their one true love.While you pray beneath your mother’s tree you carrve a phoenix into your palmwth aa hazel twig and coal;every night she devours more of you.You used to believe in angels.Now you believe in the makeover;if you can’t get the grime off your faceand your foot into a size six heelwho will ever bother to notice you?The kettle and the broom sear in your grasp,snap into fragments. The turtledoves sing,”There’s blood within the shoe.”You deserve the palace, you think, as you signalthe pigeons to attack, approve the barrel filled with red-hot nails.Its great hearth beckons, and the prince’s flagrises crimson in the angry sun.He will love you for the heat you generate,for the flames you ignite around you,though he encase your tiny feet in glassto keep them from scorching the ground.”

“I love to feel the temperature drop and the wind increase just before a thunderstorm. Then I climb in bed with the thunder.”

“Tonight I saw myself in the dark window asthe image of my father, whose lifewas spent like this,thinking of death, to the exclusionof other sensual matters,so in the end that lifewas easy to give up, sinceit contained nothing: evenmy mother’s voice couldn’t make himchange or turn backas he believedthat once you can’t love another human beingyou have no place in the world. ”

“My soul is wrapped in harsh repose,Midnight descends in raven-colored clothes,But soft… behold!A sunlight beamButting a swath of glimmering gleam.My heart expands,’tis grown a bulge in it,Inspired by your beauty…Effulgent.”

“One difference between poetry and lyrics is that lyrics sort of fade into the background. They fade on the page and live on the stage when set to music.”

“I think we are in rats’ alley Where the dead men lost their bones.”

“Sudden LightI have been here before, But when or how I cannot tell: I know the grass beyond the door, The sweet keen smell, The sighing sound, the lights around the shore. You have been mine before,— How long ago I may not know: But just when at that swallow’s soar Your neck turn’d so, Some veil did fall,—I knew it all of yore. Has this been thus before? And shall not thus time’s eddying flight Still with our lives our love restore In death’s despite, And day and night yield one delight once more?”

“Flutter like a hummingbird, Dive like an eagle, Ain’t no bird that’s my equal. – Twilight”

“Free verse is like free love; it is a contradiction in terms.”

“After great pain, a formal feeling comes – The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs – The stiff Heart questions was it He, that bore,And Yesterday, or Centuries before?The Feet, mechanical, go round – Of Ground, or Air, or Ought – A Wooden way Regardless grown, A Quartz contentment, like a stone – This is the Hour of Lead – Remembered, if outlived, As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow – First – Chill – then Stupor – then the letting go –”

“O words are poor receipts for what time hath stole away”

“How does the ordinary person come to the transcendent? For a start, I would say, study poetry. Learn how to read a poem. You need not have the experience to get the message, or at least some indication of the message. It may come gradually. (92)”