Hierarchy, as in the Catholic Church, has to do with power, and vertical attention has to do with longing. Robert Bly More Quotes by Robert Bly More Quotes From Robert Bly Male initiation does not move toward machoism; on the contrary, it moves toward achieving a cultivated heart before we die. Robert Bly malesheartmoving Myth and poetry represent a reservoir of vertical thinking, which we could also call longing and gratitude to ancestors. We need that gratitude desperately. Robert Bly gratitudeneedsthinking The beginning of love is a horror of emptiness. Robert Bly emptinesshorrorlove-is Every noon as the clock hands arrive at twelve, I want to tie the two arms together, And walk out of the bank carrying time in bags. Robert Bly tiestwohands Every part of our personality that we do not love will become hostile to us. Robert Bly hostilemindfulnesspersonality I want nothing from You but to see You. Robert Bly want Every modern male has, lying at the bottom of his psyche, a large, primitive being covered with hair down to his feet. Making contact with this Wild Man is the step the Eighties male or the Nineties male has yet to take. That bucketing-out process has yet to begin in our contemporary culture. Robert Bly hairmenlying Vertical thought likes to imagine the vast distances between the stars. Robert Bly distancelikesstars I saw Sophia Loren - the Italian woman with those wonderful cheekbones - in a movie the other day. She must have had 24 face-lifts, and she looks like an alien, as if she weren't from this world at all. Her Italian wrinkles would have been a thousand times more beautiful. Robert Bly wrinklesitalianbeautiful I am proud only of those days that pass in undivided tenderness. Robert Bly tendernessproudrelaxation The best poems take long journeys. I like poetry best that journeys--while remaining in the human scale--to the other world, which may be a place as easily overlooked as a bee's wing Robert Bly other-worldsjourneywings One day while studying a Yeats poem I decided to write poetry the rest of my life. I recognized that a single short poem has room for history, music, psychology, religious thought, mood, occult speculation, character, and events of one's own life. I still feel surprised that such various substances can find shelter and nourishment in a poem. A poem in fact may be a sort of nourishing liquid, such as one uses to keep an amoeba alive. If prepared right, a poem can keep an image or a thought or insights on history or the psyche alive for years, as well as our desires and airy impulses. Robert Bly religiouswritingcharacter There are very few adults in our culture able to imagine any genuine life coming from the vertical plane - tradition, religion, or devotion. Robert Bly adultsableculture There are years from my childhood that I cannot remember and I cannot forget. Robert Bly childhoodrememberyears The language you use for your poems should be the language you use with your friends. Robert Bly craftslanguageuse The world belongs primarily to the dead, and we only rent it from them for a little while. They created it, they wrote its literature and its songs, and they are deeply invested in how children are treated, because the children are the ones who will keep it going. The idea that each of us has the right to change everything is a deep insult to them. Robert Bly songchildrenideas Be careful how quickly you give away your fire. Robert Bly be-carefulfiregiving As a parent you have to do some renunciation. Robert Bly renunciationparent Reclaiming the sacred in our lives naturally brings us close once more to the wellsprings of poetry. Robert Bly wellspringour-livessacred I have risen to a body not yet born, existing like a light around a body through which the body moves like a sliding moon. Robert Bly lightmoonmoving
