The Practicing Poet Quotes

“…the process of revising a poem is no arbitrary tinkering, but a continued honing of the self at the deepest level.   —Jane Hirshfield”
― Diane Lockward, The Practicing Poet: Writing Beyond the Basics

“Tony Hoagland calls it one’s mythical wound. In Real Sofistikashun he writes:   A real, diehard, indestructible, irresolvable obsession in a poet is nothing less than a blessing. The poet with an obsession never has to search for subject matter. It is always right there, welling up like an Artesian spring on a piece of property with bad drainage… Emily Dickinson’s critics say that death was her flood subject, the theme that electrified her language whenever she approached it… The poet without a compelling, half-conscious story of the world may not have a heat source catalytic enough to channel into the work of a lifetime.”
― Diane Lockward, The Practicing Poet: Writing Beyond the Basics

“Having something to say is a curse; having an ax to grind is deadly. But everything makes poetry happen.”
― Diane Lockward, The Practicing Poet: Writing Beyond the Basics

“I like the feeling of being about to confront an experience and resolve it as art.   —Eudora Welty”
― Diane Lockward, The Practicing Poet: Writing Beyond the Basics

“The poem is smarter than the poet and more rebellious. A strong poem will override its author’s initial intentions.”
― Diane Lockward, The Practicing Poet: Writing Beyond the Basics

“Why should a poem please even a majority of readers or listeners? Perhaps someone needs the particular poem that you wrote. You probably do, at any rate.”
― Diane Lockward, The Practicing Poet: Writing Beyond the Basics