“A poem doesn’t do everything for you.
You are supposed to go on with your thinking.”

— Gwendolyn Brooks

"Song of Winnie"
Winnie (1988)
Context: I pass you my Poem.

A poem doesn’t do everything for you.
You are supposed to go on with your thinking.
You are supposed to enrich
the other person’s poem with your extensions,
your uniquely personal understandings,
thus making the poem serve you.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Gwendolyn Brooks 53

American writer 1917–2000

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