If I were brave enough to say so, I'd like to think that I had written some poems that people are not going to forget.

I like poems that are complex.

The problem, for me, with the writing programs is that they produce a terrible uniformity of product.

If I were brave enough to say so, I'd like to think that I had written some poems that people are not going to forget.

I just think that some version of the past in our culture is going to rise up and become dominant.

My friends never talk to me about my poetry because they're embarrassed that I write it or they're embarrassed by what I write about which are not such extraordinarily terrifying things, but they are the state of human existence.

And there are a lot more people reading poetry, but there are not so many people reading an individual poet.

For instance, it's a little better now than it was two or three years ago, but something like 70% of the poems I receive seem to be written in the present indicative.

The more poetry you have in the head, the more poetry you will understand because you will be getting to the roots of what it is that makes people write poetry at all.

In my youth, I found that I was quite often inspired and pushed forward by what I read.

There are so many things that poetry is about, one of which is memory.

Frost is the most sophisticated of poets.

But poetry is my life. Poetry is what matters to me.

Poetry should be able to reach everybody, and it should be able to appeal to all levels of understanding.

In order to understand what they need to understand, in order to write what they write, they have to be free. And yet, they aren't ever free. They are not free because they are not free of the constrictions their art puts on them.

I think poetry has lost an awful lot of its muscle because nobody knows any. Nobody has to memorize poetry.

People are talking about the Internet as though it is going to change the world. It's not going to change the world. It's not going to change the way we think, and it's not going to change the way we feel.

The relation between a poet and audience is really insignificant. What matters is the poet is hearing something that he is broadcasting. And whether there is anybody with a receiver isn't the reason he does it. He hopes there is somebody receiving it.

It is a way we reassess our past. We can do that in poetry in ways we can't do in prose.

The trouble with the performance poets is that they don't seem to have read anything. So there is not a real sense of the poetic tradition in their work.

It is very difficult for people to come in contact with their own emotions and their own sensibilities.

If poets were realistic, they wouldn't be poets.

I like poems that are little games.

Poetry is composing for the breath.

But there is some way in which poets believe that and this is dangerous, too believe that their calling gives them a certain freedom. A certain freedom to live in a free way.

Every so often I find some poems that are too good for the readers of The Atlantic because they are a little too involved with the nature of poetry, as such.

They need to learn poetry. They don't need to learn about poetry. They don't need to be told how to interpret poetry. They don't need to be told how to understand poetry. They need to learn it.

But for me, being an editor I've been an editor of all kinds of books being an editor of poetry has been the way in which I could give a crucial part of my time to what I love most.

The reason one writes poems is so that your poem will be remembered.

Dealing with poetry is a daunting task, simply because the reason one does it as an editor at all is because one is constantly coming to terms with one's own understanding of how to understand the world.

Poetry was invented as an mnemonic device to enable people to remember their prayers.

I would like to be proud of having written some poems that will be remembered, but I will never know whether I will have any reason to be proud of that.

You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.

I took Laura on a trip once where we followed the Immigrant Trail for about six hundred miles. She really learned a lesson. People forget too often how it was back then.

My biggest loss was the Olympics. I just can't forget losing. I never will.

Yes, but don't forget I also have the luxury of the worlds finest band when it gets lonely.

It's part of the calling to at least do a few songs in the show that give people some hope. There's so much hurt in this world and... music is such a great healing balm and a great way to forget your troubles.

Countries under foreign command quickly forget their history, their past, their tradition, their national symbols, their way of living, often their own literary language.

Forget the lottery. Bet on yourself instead.

Don't forget that the only two things people read in a story are the first and last sentences. Give them blood in the eye on the first one.

It makes me forget that I'm not going to be a major star and lead female in films whether it was 20 years ago, 10 years ago, five or in the future.

What kind of people do they think we are? Is it possible they do not realize that we shall never cease to persevere against them until they have been taught a lesson which they and the world will never forget?

Sometimes songwriters and singers forget that. They get a melody in their head and the notes will take precedence, so that they wind up forcing a word onto a melody. It doesn't ring true.

Seeking to forget makes exile all the longer; the secret of redemption lies in remembrance.

I think we typically, as Northerners, stereotype what the South is in so many negative ways. We kind of forget all the beautiful things that they contribute to make this country a country.

I must be careful not to get trapped in the past. That's why I tend to forget my songs.

When it's your chance to step up to the plate, just hit it out of the park, and everybody will forget about everything that came before.

I do not bring forgiveness with me, nor forgetfulness. The only ones who can forgive are dead; the living have no right to forget.

My focus is to forget the pain of life. Forget the pain, mock the pain, reduce it. And laugh.