“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

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "A poem doesn’t do everything for you. You are supposed to go on with your thinking." by Gwendolyn Brooks?

Gwendolyn Brooks photo

Gwendolyn Brooks53

American writer 1917–2000

Related quotes

“You can’t concentrate on doing anything if you are thinking, “What’s gonna happen if it doesn’t go right?”

Malcolm Gladwell (1963) journalist and science writer

Source: David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

“Suppose, deep down, you suspect that you are dull, and your public works are a form of vengeance. You talk a good poem, and think by numbers. Once upon a time, you were interesting; then Mother died and you had to give it up.”

John Leonard (1939–2008) American critic, writer, and commentator

"The Power Party" (p. 62)
Private Lives in the Imperial City (1979)

“It doesn’t matter what business you are in, it is essential that the primary motivation and driving force behind everything you do is based on the impact it will have on your customer.”

Don Soderquist (1934–2016)

Don Soderquist “ The Wal-Mart Way: The Inside Story of the Success of the World's Largest Company https://books.google.com/books?id=mIxwVLXdyjQC&lpg=PR9&dq=Don%20Soderquist&pg=PR9#v=onepage&q=Don%20Soderquist&f=false, Thomas Nelson, April 2005, p. 81. <br class="br">On working hard

“You either do it quietly and describe the Indian community in half a dozen poems or you think sod it, and go all out. The most Indian way I could think of was to do monologues and voices.”

Daljit Nagra (1966) British poet, teacher and broadcaster

http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,1992990,00.html

“Just because you refuse to acknowledge something, refuse to look at it or think about it, doesn’t mean it’s not there, that it doesn’t affect you and the choices you make in your life.”

Rachel Gibson (1961) American writer

Source: Tangled Up In You

“If your destination, or the steps you are going to take in the future, take up so much of your attention that they become more important to you than the step you are taking now, then you completely miss the journey’s inner purpose, which has nothing to do with where you are going or what you are doing, but everything to do with how. It has nothing to do with future but everything to do with the quality of your consciousness at this moment.”

Eckhart Tolle book The Power of Now

The Power of Now (1997)

“For everything that you do, there are people who appreciate your work and then there are those who don't. I think very few people have the guts to be sure of what they are doing, believe in it, and then go ahead and do it, irrespective of what people think.”

Nastassja Kinski (1961) German actress

Interview with actress Nastassja Kinski, Indiantelevision.com, 23 August, 2003

“This world is bullshit. And you shouldn't model your life — wait a second — you shouldn't model your life about what you think that we think is cool and what we're wearing and what we're saying and everything. Go with yourself. Go with yourself.”

Fiona Apple (1977) singer-songwriter, musician

Acceptance speech, 1997 MTV Video Music Awards

“To be an artist, you look, you perceive, you recognize what is going through your mind. And it is not ideas. Everything you feel and everything you see and everything that your whole life goes through your mind, you know. But you have to recognize it and go with it and really feel it.”

Agnes Martin (1912–2004) American artist

1974
1970's, interview, K. Horsfield & L. Blumenthal

“It's frightening to think that you mark your children merely by being yourself… It seems unfair. You can't assume the responsibility for everything you do — or don't do.”

Simone de Beauvoir book Les Belles Images

Les Belles Images (1966), Ch. 3
General sources

Related topics