A poem is an invitation to a voyage. As in life, we travel to see fresh sights. Charles Simic More Quotes by Charles Simic More Quotes From Charles Simic The highest levels of consciousness are wordless. Charles Simic highest consciousness levels He who cannot howl will not find his pack. Charles Simic packs howl Inside my empty bottle I was constructing a lighthouse while all others were making ships. Charles Simic ships perspective bottles We name one thing and then another. That’s how time enters poetry. Space, on the other hand, comes into being through the attention we pay to each word. The more intense our attention, the more space, and there’s a lot of space inside words. Charles Simic space names hands The world is beautiful but not sayable. That's why we need art. Charles Simic beautiful art needs The secret wish of poetry is to stop time. Charles Simic poetry-is secret wish The plain truth is we are going to die. Here I am, a teeny spec surrounded by boundless space and time, arguing with the whole of creation, shaking my fist, sputtering, growing even eloquent at times, and then-poof! I am gone. Swept off once and for all. I think that is very, very funny. Charles Simic space here-i-am thinking Insomnia is an all-night travel agency with posters advertising faraway places. Charles Simic agency insomnia night Here in the United States, we speak with reverence of authentic experience. We write poems about our daddies taking us fishing and breaking our hearts by making us throw the little fish back into the river. We even tell the reader the kind of car we were driving, the year and the model, to give the impression that it’s all true. It’s because we think of ourselves as journalists of a kind. Like them, we’ll go anywhere for a story. Don’t believe a word of it. As any poet can tell you, one often sees better with eyes closed than with eyes wide open. Charles Simic eye writing believe When people ask me how to find happiness in life I tell them, First learn how to cook. Charles Simic finding-happiness people firsts One writes because one has been touched by the yearning for and the despair of ever touching the Other. Charles Simic despair touching writing If I believe in anything, it is in the dark night of the soul. Awe is my religion, and mystery is its church. Charles Simic dark night believe Poetry: three mismatched shoes at the entrance of a dark alley. Charles Simic shoes three dark Poetry is an orphan of silence. The words never quite equal the experience behind them. Charles Simic never-quit silence poetry I slept little, read a lot, and fell in love frequently. Charles Simic littles The truth is dark under your eyelids. Charles Simic truth-is truth dark I'm not a stickler for truth. To me, lying in poetry is much more fun. I'm against lying in life, in principle, in any other activity except poetry. Charles Simic principles fun lying The religion of the short poem, in every age and in every literature, has a single commandment: Less is always more. The short poem rejects preamble and summary. It's about all and everything, the metaphysics of a few words surrounded by much silence. …The short poem is a match flaring up in a dark universe. Charles Simic silence age dark For Emily Dickinson every philosophical idea was a potential lover. Metaphysics is the realm of eternal seduction of the spirit by ideas. Charles Simic seduction philosophical ideas Silence is the only language god speaks. Charles Simic language silence speak
