
“I never think of poetry or the poetry scene, only separate poems written by individuals.”
Interview in The Review, published by Ian Hamilton (1972)
'Five points' vol 4 no 2 Georgia State University Press Winter 2000
“I never think of poetry or the poetry scene, only separate poems written by individuals.”
Interview in The Review, published by Ian Hamilton (1972)
“Poetry is a subset of a Cosmos, which in itself, is a poem.”
The Cosmos as a Poem (2010)
Variant translation:
Who says my poems are poems?
My poems are not poems.
After you know my poems are not poems,
Then we can begin to discuss poetry!
"Zen Poetics of Ryokan" in Simply Haiku: A Quarterly Journal of Japanese Short Form Poetry (Summer 2006) http://www.hermitary.com/articles/ryokan_poetics.html
Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf : Zen Poems of Ryokan (1993)
“In poetry much of the sense and most of the pleasure resides in the sounds the poem make.”
The Great Modern Poets, London, 2006
“Poetry is like time travel, and poems take us to the heart of the matter”
About poems that moves her to tears
First World War centenary: the war poem that moves the Duchess of Cornwall to tears The Daily Telegraph 28 June 2014 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/10932405/First-World-War-centenary-the-war-poem-that-moves-the-Duchess-of-Cornwall-to-tears.html#disqus_thread
Source: The Life of Poetry (1949), p. 31
Context: The meanings of poetry take their growth through the interaction of the images and the music of the poem. The music is not the rhythm, which is a representation of life, alone. The music involves the interplay of the sounds of words, the length of the sequences, the keeping and breaking of rhythms, and the repetition and variation of syllables unrhymed and rhymed. It also involves the play of ideas and images.
“You go to truth by way of poetry and I go to poetry by way of truth.”
“If a poem hasn't ripped apart your soul; you haven't experienced poetry.”