You must be careful not to deprive the poem of its wild origin. Stanley Kunitz More Quotes by Stanley Kunitz More Quotes From Stanley Kunitz Live in the layers, Stanley Kunitz next-chapter layers My mother never forgave my father Stanley Kunitz mother father ...few young poets [are] testing their poems against the ear. They're writing for the page, and the page, let me tell you, is a cold bed. Stanley Kunitz bed ears writing Some poems present themselves as cliffs that need to be climbed. Others are so defensive that when you approach their enclosure you half expect to be met by a snarling dog at the gate. Still others want to smother you with their sticky charms. Stanley Kunitz half dog needs A poet needs to keep his wilderness alive inside him. Stanley Kunitz wilderness alive needs A poet needs to keep his wilderness alive inside him. To remain a poet after forty requires an awareness of your darkest Africa, that part of yourself that will never be tamed. Stanley Kunitz wilderness alive needs Writer's block is a natural affliction. Writers who have never experienced it have something wrong with them. It means there isn't enough friction-that they aren't making enough of an effort to reconcile the contradictions of life. All you get is sweet monotonous flow. Writer's block is nothing to commit suicide over. It simply indicates some imbalance between your experience and your art, and I think that's constructive. Stanley Kunitz suicide sweet art An old poet ought never to be caught with his technique showing. Stanley Kunitz caught poet technique What makes the engine go? Desire, desire, desire. Stanley Kunitz passion desire football The ear writes my poems, not the mind. Stanley Kunitz ears mind writing The first task of the poet is to create the person who will write the poems. Stanley Kunitz tasks writing firsts