The advantage of poetry over life is that poetry, if it is sharp enough, may last. Louise Glück More Quotes by Louise Glück More Quotes From Louise Glück We look at the world once, in childhood. The rest is memory. Louise Glück childhood memories looks I caution you as I was never cautioned: You will never let go, you will never be satiated. You will be damaged and scarred, you will continue to hunger. Your body will age, you will continue to need. You will want the earth, then more of the earth-- Sublime, indifferent, it is present, it will not respond. It is encompassing, it will not minister. Meaning, it will feed you, it will ravish you. It will not keep you alive. Louise Glück sublime age letting-go The soul is silent. If it speaks at all it speaks in dreams. Louise Glück speak soul dream I am attracted to ellipsis, to the unsaid, to suggestion, to eloquent, deliberate silence. The unsaid, for me, exerts great power: often I wish an entire poem could be made in this vocabulary. It is analogous to the unseen. Louise Glück vocabulary silence wish That's why I'm not to be trusted. Louise Glück trusted mind heart It seems to me that the desire to make art produces an ongoing experience of longing, a restlessness sometimes, but not inevitably, played out romantically, or sexually. Always there seems something ahead, the next poem or story, visible, at least, apprehensible, but unreachable. To perceive it at all is to be haunted by it; some sound, some tone, becomes a torment — the poem embodying that sound seems to exist somewhere already finished. It’s like a lighthouse, except that, as one swims towards it, it backs away. Louise Glück swim desire art I pretended indifference…even in the presence of love, in the presence of hunger. And the more deeply I felt, the less able I was to respond. Louise Glück hunger indifference able The unsaid, for me, exerts great power. Louise Glück unsaid great-power writing Intense love always leads to mourning. Louise Glück intense-love mourning intense At first I saw you everywhere. Now only in certain things, at longer intervals. Louise Glück saws certain firsts From the beginning of time, in childhood, I thought that pain meant I was not loved. It meant I loved. Louise Glück childhood pain Of two sisters one is always the watcher, one the dancer. Louise Glück dancer sister two Tonight I saw myself in the dark window as the image of my father, whose life was spent like this, thinking of death, to the exclusion of other sensual matters, so in the end that life was easy to give up, since it contained nothing: even my mother's voice couldn't make him change or turn back as he believed that once you can't love another human being you have no place in the world. Louise Glück giving-up mother father The Red Poppy The great thing is not having a mind. Feelings: oh, I have those; they govern me. I have a lord in heaven called the sun, and open for him, showing him the fire of my own heart, fire like his presence. What could such glory be if not a heart? Oh my brothers and sisters, were you like me once, long ago, before you were human? Did you permit yourselves to open once, who would never open again? Because in truth I am speaking now the way you do. I speak because I am shattered. Louise Glück brother fire heart The master said you must write what you see / But what I see does not move me / The master answered Change what you see. Louise Glück doe writing moving Like a child, the earth's going to sleep, or so the story goes. But I'm not tired, it says. And the mother says, You may not be tired but I'm tired Louise Glück tired mother children I’m like the child who buries Louise Glück sadness light children Without thinking, I knelt in the grass, like someone meaning to pray. When I tried to stand again, I couldn't move, my legs were utterly rigid. Does grief change you like that? Through the birches, I could see the pond. The sun was cutting small white holes in the water. I got up finally; I walked down to the pond. I stood there, brushing the grass from my skirt, watching myself, like a girl after her first lover turning slowly at the bathroom mirror, naked, looking for a sign. But nakedness in women is always a pose. I was not transfigured. I would never be free. Louise Glück girl grief moving He takes her in his arms He wants to say I love you, nothing can hurt you But he thinks this is a lie, so he says in the end You're dead, nothing can hurt you which seems to him a more promising beginning, more true. Louise Glück hurt love-you lying I think I can remember being dead. Many times, in winter, I approached Zeus. Tell me, I would ask him, how can I endure the earth? Louise Glück earth winter thinking
