And there are a lot more people reading poetry, but there are not so many people reading an individual poet.

Peter Davison

Categorized in : More People Reading Poetry

If poets were realistic, they wouldn't be poets.

poets were realistic

Dealing with poetry is a daunting task, simply because the reason one does it as an editor at all is because one is constantly coming to terms with one's own understanding of how to understand the world.

understand understanding poetry world

The problem, for me, with the writing programs is that they produce a terrible uniformity of product.

product me problem writing

For instance, it's a little better now than it was two or three years ago, but something like 70% of the poems I receive seem to be written in the present indicative.

present something better three

It is very difficult for people to come in contact with their own emotions and their own sensibilities.

emotions own difficult people

The trouble with the performance poets is that they don't seem to have read anything. So there is not a real sense of the poetic tradition in their work.

performance tradition real work

My friends never talk to me about my poetry because they're embarrassed that I write it or they're embarrassed by what I write about which are not such extraordinarily terrifying things, but they are the state of human existence.

never me friends poetry

I think poetry has lost an awful lot of its muscle because nobody knows any. Nobody has to memorize poetry.

nobody think poetry lost

I just think that some version of the past in our culture is going to rise up and become dominant.

rise think culture past

Poetry is composing for the breath.

breath composing poetry

Poetry was invented as an mnemonic device to enable people to remember their prayers.

prayers poetry remember people

Frost is the most sophisticated of poets.

poets most sophisticated frost

Poetry should be able to reach everybody, and it should be able to appeal to all levels of understanding.

reach everybody understanding poetry

I like poems that are little games.

little like poetry games

I like poems that are complex.

poems complex like

Every so often I find some poems that are too good for the readers of The Atlantic because they are a little too involved with the nature of poetry, as such.

find good poetry nature

In my youth, I found that I was quite often inspired and pushed forward by what I read.

quite forward inspired youth

They need to learn poetry. They don't need to learn about poetry. They don't need to be told how to interpret poetry. They don't need to be told how to understand poetry. They need to learn it.

need how understand poetry

The more poetry you have in the head, the more poetry you will understand because you will be getting to the roots of what it is that makes people write poetry at all.

you poetry roots people

But poetry is my life. Poetry is what matters to me.

my-life me poetry life