When I walk I part the air and always the air moves in to fill the spaces where my body's been. Mark Strand More Quotes by Mark Strand More Quotes From Mark Strand Those hours given over to basking in the glow of an imagined future, of being carried away in streams of promise by a love or a passion so strong that one felt altered forever and convinced that even the smallest particle of the surrounding world was charged with purpose of impossible grandeur; ah, yes, and one would look up into the trees and be thrilled by the wind- loosened river of pale, gold foliage cascading down and by the high, melodious singing of countless birds; those moments, so many and so long ago, still come back, but briefly, like fireflies in the perfumed heat of summer night. Mark Strand passion strong summer And what does it matter when light enters the room where a child sleeps and the waking mother, opening her eyes, wishes more than anything to be unwakened by what she cannot name? Mark Strand mother sleep children She stood beside me for years, or was it a moment? I cannot remember. Maybe I loved her, maybe I didn't. There was a house, and then no house. There were trees, but none remain. When no one remembers, what is there? You, whose moments are gone, who drift like smoke in the afterlife, tell me something, tell me anything. Mark Strand afterlife house years The reality of a poem is a very ghostly one. It suggests, it suggests, it suggests again. Mark Strand reality In a field I am the absence of field.That is always the case. Wherever I am, I am what is missing. When I walk I part the air and always the air moves in to fill the space where my body has been. We all have reasons for moving. I move to keep things whole. Mark Strand garden air moving From the reader's view, a poem is more demanding than prose. Mark Strand reader views book But I tend to think of the expressive part of me as rather tedious - never curious or responsive, but blind and self-serving. Mark Strand expression self thinking I have been eating poetry. Mark Strand has-beens eating I would say that American poetry has always been a poetry of personal testimony. Mark Strand american-poetry testimony And yet, in a culture like ours, which is given to material comforts, and addicted to forms of entertainment that offer immediate gratification, it is surprising that so much poetry is written. Mark Strand entertainment comfort culture There's a certain point, when you're writing autobiographical stuff, where you don't want to misrepresent yourself. It would be dishonest. Mark Strand would-be want writing A great many people seem to think writing poetry is worthwhile, even though it pays next to nothing and is not as widely read as it should be. Mark Strand writing people thinking The number of people writing poems is vast, and their reasons for doing so are many, that much can be surmised from the stacks of submissions. Mark Strand writing numbers people I am not concerned with truth, nor with conventional notions of what is beautiful. Mark Strand concerned notion beautiful Poetry is, first and last, language - the rest is filler. Mark Strand lasts language firsts Poetry is something that happens in universities, in creative writing programs or in English departments. Mark Strand program creative writing It's very hard to write humor. Mark Strand hard humor writing Even this late it happens: the coming of love, the coming of light. Mark Strand late light happens Sometimes he did not know if he slept or just thought about sleep. Mark Strand knows sleep sometimes We all have reasons for moving. I move to keep things whole. Mark Strand whole reason moving
