“The moment of change is the only poem.”
Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) American poet, essayist and feminist
On how poems might be structured around a political theme in “JERICHO BROWN in conversation with MICHAEL DUMANIS” http://www.benningtonreview.org/jericho-brown-interview in Bennington Review (2018 Oct 27)
“The moment of change is the only poem.”
Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) American poet, essayist and feminist
“Your very flesh shall be a great poem…”
Walt Whitman book Fulles d'herba
Variant: And your very flesh shall be a great poem.
Source: Leaves of Grass
A.R. Ammons (1926–2001) American poet
Paris Review interview (1996)
Context: In the long poem, if there is a single governing image at the center, then anything can fit around it, meanwhile allowing for a lot of fragmentation and discontinuity on the periphery. Short poems, for me, are coherences, single instances on the periphery of a nonspecified center. I revise short poems sometimes for years, whereas, since there is no getting lost in the long poem, I engage whatever comes up in the moment and link it with its moment.
“Relationships are good
for at least two poems—
One at the beginning
and one at the end.”
Sheri-D Wilson (1958) Canadian Spoken Word Poet
"On Being a Poet"
Swerve (1993)
Spike Milligan (1918–2002) British-Irish comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor
Spike Milligan with Jeremy Taylor Live at Cambridge University. Recorded at Cambridge University on December 2, 1973, this was previously released as a double LP, and later re-issued as a 2 CD set. Milligan used variations on the Shakespear line throughout his later life.
Randall Jarrell (1914–1965) poet, critic, novelist, essayist
"Answers to Questions," from Mid-Century American Poets, edited by John Ciardi, 1950 [p. 170]
Kipling, Auden & Co: Essays and Reviews 1935-1964 (1980)