Selected Poems Quotes

“They didn't have much trouble
teaching the ape to write poems:
first they strapped him into a chair,
then tied the pencil around his hand
(the paper had already been nailed down).
Then Dr. Bluespire leaned over his shoulder
and whispered into his ear:
'You look like a god sitting there.
Why don't you try writing something?”
― James Tate, Selected Poems

“He is being nibbled to death by ducks.

--More Later, Less the Same”
― James Tate, Selected Poems

“When a clock dies no one wakes.”
― James Tate, Selected Poems