I never meant to be a full-time poet: I started out as a gardener, an ideal job for a poet because your head is left free. Alice Oswald More Quotes by Alice Oswald More Quotes From Alice Oswald I believe the poet shouldn't be in the poem at all except as a lens or as ears. Alice Oswald lens i-believe poet believe At each moment, a poem might grow into a totally different shape. It is not so much like working in a garden. It is more as if you remade the garden every day. Alice Oswald grow day moment you I much preferred Latin to Greek. I loved the language being such a pattern that you could not shift a word without the whole sentence falling to pieces. Alice Oswald loved being you language At eight, I made a commitment to poetry. Until then, I thought I'd be a policeman. But I went a whole night without sleeping, and the next day the world had changed. It needed a different language. Alice Oswald day poetry night world To be a poet is as serious, long-term and natural as the effort to be the best human you can be. To express something well is not a question of having a top-class education and understanding poetic forms: rather, it's a question of paying attention. Alice Oswald best you effort education I like Patti Smith's lyrics, and sometimes think I could be influenced by them. But she has a kind of cool that's beyond me. Alice Oswald cool think me sometimes I try not to invent; I try simply to translate the weird language of the natural world. And I'm not into absolute ownership of things. Alice Oswald weird try language world