I didn't write my poems because I wanted to, they were wrung from me. I had to write them. Maxine Kumin More Quotes by Maxine Kumin More Quotes From Maxine Kumin To build is to dwell. Maxine Kumin building And the pond's stillness nippled as if by rain instead is pocked with life. Maxine Kumin pondsrainlife Can it be I am the only Jew residing in Danville, Kentuchy, looking for matzoh in the Safeway and the A & P? Maxine Kumin judaismjew The time on either side of now stands fast. Maxine Kumin sidestime The thing that's depressing is teaching graduate students today and discovering that they don't know simple elemental facts of grammar. They really do not know how to scan a line; they've never been taught to scan a line. Many of them don't know the difference between 'lie' and 'lay,' let alone 'its' and 'it's.' And they're in graduate school! Maxine Kumin alonesimpletodayschool That's my prescription for a happy marriage - marry someone who doesn't do anything similar to what you do. Maxine Kumin someoneyoumarriagehappy A lot of people use the dictionary to find out how to spell words. Maxine Kumin wordsfindhowpeople I've reached a point in life where it would be easy to let down my guard and write simple imagistic poems. But I don't want to write poems that aren't necessary. I want to write poems that matter, that have an interesting point of view. Maxine Kumin viewsimplematterlife I have a vast 'bone pile' of stillborn or abandoned poems along with jottings and wisps from the great beyond that I tend to scan. Sometimes that leads somewhere, and sometimes the Muse is just on sabbatical. Maxine Kumin beyondsomewheregreatsometimes There is an extraordinary degree of amity among Washington poets. They hang together. You would be hard pressed to find that in Manhattan. Maxine Kumin findyouextraordinarytogether Writing is my salvation. If I didn't write, what would I do? Maxine Kumin wouldwritesalvationwriting So many poems you go into and come up empty. Maxine Kumin goupyouempty If I'm working on a poem, it's at the forefront of my mind; I'm working on it when I'm cooking dinner or stretched out on the sofa. But if I don't really have it by the 10th draft, I know it just isn't going to jell. Maxine Kumin knowdinnercookingmind I was a very, I think, lonely kid, very introspective. I felt very much at odds with my environment and my culture... Probably a genetic flaw. I can't really explain it. Maxine Kumin thinkenvironmentlonelyculture I don't think I've ever felt terribly comfortable writing about my body. First of all, I think I took my body for granted for so many years. I abused it a lot. Maxine Kumin thinkcomfortablebodywriting
