American - Poet | September 10, 1935 -
I have a notebook with me all the time, and I begin scribbling a few words. When things are going well, the walk does not get anywhere; I finally just stop and write.
Mary Oliver
TimeWalkWordsMeStopWrite
To tell you the truth, I believe everything - tigers, trees, stones - are sentient in one way or another. You'd never catch me idly kicking a stone, for example.
TruthMeBelieveTreesYouStone
I went to India and was quite taken with it. There's a feeling there that things are holy first and useful second.
FeelingIndiaFirstThingsHoly
As a child, what captivated me was reading the poems myself and realizing that there was a world without material substance which was nevertheless as alive as any other.
MyselfChildMeWorldReadingAlive
Words have not only a definition... but also the felt quality of their own kind of sound.
QualityWordsKindSoundOwnOnly
I love the line of Flaubert about observing things very intensely. I think our duty as writers begins not with our own feelings, but with the powers of observing.
LoveThinkFeelingsDutyLineOwn
People want poetry. They need poetry. They get it. They don't want fancy work.
WorkPoetryPeopleWantNeedFancy
Writers must... take care of the sensibility that houses the possibility of poems.
CareTake CareTakeMustHouses
Apparently, I've been considered a recluse.
BeenRecluseApparentlyConsidered
I worked probably 25 years by myself, just writing and working, not trying to publish much, not giving readings.
MyselfWritingGivingTryingYears
My first two books are out of print and, okay, they can sleep there comfortably. It's early work, derivative work.
WorkSleepEarlyOkayFirstOut
Almost anything is too much. I am trying in my poems to have the reader be the experiencer. I do not want to be there. It is not even a walk we take together.
WalkTogetherI AmTryingToo Much
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