I don't think poetry is something that can be taught. We can encourage young writers, but what you can't teach them is the very essence of poetry. Robert Morgan More Quotes by Robert Morgan More Quotes From Robert Morgan Distance not only gives nostalgia, but perspective, and maybe objectivity. Robert Morgan distanceobjectivitygiving One of the most powerful devices is to distort time, to go from human time to atomic time, geologic time. Sometimes you can actually accomplish that, with one unexpected word choice. Robert Morgan unexpectedpowerfulchoices I think that it's more likely that in my 60s and 70s I will be writing poetry rather than fiction. Robert Morgan writingfictionthinking If people associate me with a region, that's fine with me. Robert Morgan regionsfinepeople In the best fiction, the language itself can become almost invisible. Robert Morgan invisiblelanguagefiction In the later books I am much more at home in the use of language to describe things. I had never thought of that until a critic pointed that out. Robert Morgan usehomebook Maybe the example of Southern fiction writing has been so powerful that Southern poets have sort of keyed themselves to that. Robert Morgan southernpowerfulwriting Neither of my parents has been very sensitive about my writing. Robert Morgan sensitiveparentwriting Some people swear by writing courses, but whether it really helps American poetry, I have doubts. Robert Morgan doubtwritingpeople Some people want to call me an Appalachian writer, even though I know some people use regional labels to belittle. Robert Morgan labelsusepeople Southern poets are still writing narrative poems, poems in forms, dramatic poems. Robert Morgan narrativesouthernwriting The best books of our times have included the three mature volumes of Philip Larkin. They're very short books of poems, and very carefully arranged. Robert Morgan maturethreebook I seem to keep returning to my father in poems because his personality was so extreme, so driven. He did everything to excess. Robert Morgan excesspersonalityfather I learned to impersonate the kind of person that talks about poetry. It comes from teaching, I think. Robert Morgan kindteachingthinking I encourage students to pursue an idea far enough so they can see what the cliches and stereotypes are. Only then do they begin to hit pay dirt. Robert Morgan encouragementpayideas I did not have a very literary background. I came to poetry from the sciences and mathematics, and also through an interest in Japanese and Chinese poetry in translation. Robert Morgan chinesemathematicsinterest Fiction is about intimacy with characters, events, places. Robert Morgan eventscharacterfiction I love to create interesting textures with language. You can do it as long as it seems like a discovery. Robert Morgan discoverylonginteresting You have to really dive deep back into yourself and get rid of so much modern analytical categorization. It's one of the great things poetry does. Robert Morgan categorizationmoderndoe If a poem is not memorable, there's probably something wrong. One of the problems of free verse is that much of the free verse poetry is not memorable. Robert Morgan poetry-isproblemmemorable
