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)
“My poems please the brave:
My poems, short and sincere,
Have the force of steel
Which forges swords.”
Source: Simple Verses (1891), V
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José Martí 103
Poet, writer, Cuban nationalist leader 1853–1895Related quotes
Form in Modern Poetry(1932)
“My poems are naughty, but my life is pure.”
Lasciva est nobis pagina, vita proba.
I, 4.
Epigrams (c. 80 – 104 AD)
“Poem: Lines on the Death of my Husband”
Reported in Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895) by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, p. 388.
“My poems are hymns of praise to the glory of life.”
"Some notes on my poetry" Collected Poems (1957)
“I want to make a poem of my life.”
As quoted by Mishima's biographer, Henry Scott-Stokes in the documentary Yukio Mishima : Samurai Writer (1985)
The Poetic Principle (1850)
Preface to the second edition (1953) of The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1949)
Context: I write for one and only one purpose, to overcome the invincible ignorance of the traduced heart. My poems are acts of force and violence directed against the evil which murders us all. If you like, they are designed not just to overthrow the present State, economic system, and Church, but all prevailing systems of human collectivity altogether... I wish to speak to and for all those who have had enough of the Social Lie, the Economics of Mass Murder, the Sexual Hoax, and the Domestication of Conspicuous Consumption.
"Answers to Questions," from Mid-Century American Poets, edited by John Ciardi, 1950 [p. 170]
Kipling, Auden & Co: Essays and Reviews 1935-1964 (1980)