“When composing a verse let there not be a hair's breath separating your mind from what you write; composition of a poem must be done in an instant, like a woodcutter felling a huge tree or a swordsman leaping at a dangerous enemy.”

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Bashō Matsuo46

Japanese poet 1644–1694

James Fenton (1949) poet

The Independent on Sunday June 24, 1990.

“It's a pity, a gentleman in refined retirement composing poetry:
He models his work on the classic verse of China.
And his poems are elegant, full of fine phrases.
But if you don't write of things deep in your own heart,
What's the use of churning out so many words?”

Ryōkan (1758–1831) Japanese Buddhist monk

Variant translation:
With gaudy words their lines are formed
And further adorned by novel and curious phrases.
Yet if they fail to express what is in their own minds
What is the use, no matter
How many poems they compose!
"Zen Poetics of Ryokan" in Simply Haiku: A Quarterly Journal of Japanese Short Form Poetry (Summer 2006)
Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf : Zen Poems of Ryokan (1993)

“Writers are not just people who sit down and write. They hazard themselves. Every time you compose a book your composition of yourself is at stake.”

E.L. Doctorow (1931–2015) novelist, editor, professor

“Ordering a man to write a poem is like commanding a pregnant woman to give birth to a red-haired child.”

Carl Sandburg (1878–1967) American writer and editor

“Don't waste the breath to save your face, When you have done your best, And even more is asked of you, Let fate decide the rest.”

Robert Hunter (1941–2019) American musician

"Built to Last"
Built to Last (1989)

“Craft is something you learn by studying models. When a student asks, what is a good book about traditional iambic verse, The Collected Poems of Ben Jonson. What is an excellent book about free verse? The Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams.”

Robert Pinsky (1940) American poet, editor, literary critic, academic.

What is a good book about short line in ballad metre? The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson.
The Art of Poetry - interview 1995 with Downing & Kunitz

“When you write, it's like braiding your hair. Taking a handful of coarse unruly strands and attempting to bring then unity.”

Edwidge Danticat (1969) Novelist, short story writer, memoirist

“You see, it is not enough to be a great composer. To write music like that you must be a chosen instrument of God.”

Dinu Lipatti (1917–1950) Pianist, Composer

Listening Beethoven's F minor Quartet; Quoted by Walter Legge, in Walter Legge: Words and Music (1998) edited by Alan Sanders

Robert Pinsky (1940) American poet, editor, literary critic, academic.

Interview at Skidmore College Aug 1995,published 'Paris Review' no 144 Fall 1997
The Art of Poetry - interview 1995 with Downing & Kunitz

“When I start writing a poem, I don't think about models or about what anybody else in the world has done.”

Gwendolyn Brooks (1917–2000) American writer

"An Interview with Gwendolyn Brooks", Contemporary Literature 11:1 (Winter 1970)

“When composing a verse let there not be a hair's breath separating your mind from what you write; composition of a poem must be done in an instant, like a woodcutter felling a huge tree or a swordsman leaping at a dangerous enemy.”

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Bashō Matsuo46

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