To write about the monstrous sense of alienation the poet feels in this culture of polarized hatreds is a way of staying sane. With the poem, I reach out to an audience equally at odds with official policy, and I celebrate our mutual humanness in an inhuman world.

Maxine Kumin

Categorized in : Writing Hatred Odds

We are, each of us, our own prisoner. We are locked up in our own... by Maxine Kumin

We are, each of us, our own prisoner. We are locked up in our own story.

prisoner stories writing

I would not recommend poetry as a career. In the first place, it's impossible in this time and place - in this culture - to make poetry a career. The writing of poetry is one thing. It's an obsession, the scratching of a divine itch, and has nothing to do with money. You can, however, make a career out of being a poet by teaching, traveling around, and giving lectures. It's a thin living at best.

careers teaching writing

When Sleeping Beauty wakes up, she is almost fifty years old by Maxine Kumin

When Sleeping Beauty wakes up, she is almost fifty years old

wake-up sleep years

It is important to act as if bearing witness matters. by Maxine Kumin

It is important to act as if bearing witness matters.

bearing-witness important matter

Cherish your wilderness. by Maxine Kumin

Cherish your wilderness.

wilderness cherish

I didn't write my poems because I wanted to, they were wrung from... by Maxine Kumin

I didn't write my poems because I wanted to, they were wrung from me. I had to write them.

poetry wanted writing

Here on the drawing board fingers and noses leak from the air brush maggots lie under if i should die before if i should die in the back room stacked up in smooth boxes like soapflakes or tunafish wait the undreamt of.

air dream lying

Love, we are a small pond. by Maxine Kumin

Love, we are a small pond.

I'm going home the old way with a light hand on the reins making... by Maxine Kumin

I'm going home the old way with a light hand on the reins making the long approach.

women light home

Women are not supposed to have uteruses, especially in poems. by Maxine Kumin

Women are not supposed to have uteruses, especially in poems.

uterus women poetry

Everything pays for growing tame. by Maxine Kumin

Everything pays for growing tame.

God serves the choosy. They know what to want. by Maxine Kumin

God serves the choosy. They know what to want.

choosy god want

One way of ending the poem is to turn it back on itself, like a s... by Maxine Kumin

One way of ending the poem is to turn it back on itself, like a serpent with its tail in its mouth.

poetry mouths tails

Nature is a catchment of sorrows. by Maxine Kumin

Nature is a catchment of sorrows.

The tougher the form the easier it is for me to handle the poem, because the form gives permission to be very gut honest about feelings.

honest feelings giving

My writing time needs to surround itself with empty stretches, or at least unpeopled ones, for the writing takes place in an area of suspension as in a hanging nest that is almost entirely encapsulated.

nests writing needs

Poetry by Maxine Kumin

Poetry

valleys poetry happens

... people get confidential at midnight. by Maxine Kumin

... people get confidential at midnight.

confidential midnight people

Sometimes tradition is a way of keeping going. by Maxine Kumin

Sometimes tradition is a way of keeping going.

tradition sometimes way

Meanwhile let us cast one shadow in air and water. by Maxine Kumin

Meanwhile let us cast one shadow in air and water.

shadow air water