American - Poet | September 10, 1935 -
I worked privately, and sometimes I feel that might be better for poets than the kind of social workshop gathering. My school was the great poets: I read, and I read, and I read.
Mary Oliver
GreatSchoolBetterFeelSometimes
If I've done my work well, I vanish completely from the scene. I believe it is invasive of the work when you know too much about the writer.
WorkBelieveYouToo MuchKnowDone
Writers sometimes give up what is most strange and wonderful about their writing - soften their roughest edges - to accommodate themselves toward a group response.
WritingSometimesGroupStrangeUp
I think one thing is that prayer has become more useful, interesting, fruitful, and... almost involuntary in my life.
LifePrayerThinkMy LifeBecome
I know the sag of the unfinished poem. And I know the release of the poem that is finished.
KnowReleasePoemFinished
My parents didn't care very much what I did, and that was probably a blessing.
BlessingParentsCareMuchDidVery
I've always wanted to write poems and nothing else.
NothingWriteAlwaysPoemsWanted
Poetry isn't a profession, it's a way of life. It's an empty basket; you put your life into it and make something out of that.
LifePoetryYouWayOutEmpty
The woods that I loved as a child are entirely gone. The woods that I loved as a young adult are gone. The woods that most recently I walked in are not gone, but they're full of bicycle trails.
ChildWoodsLovedBicycleYoung
I have the feeling that a lot of poets writing now are - they sort of tap dance through it.
DanceWritingFeelingNowThrough
I'd rather write about polar bears than people.
PeopleWritePolarRatherBears
I would rather write poems than prose, any day, any place. Yet each has its own force.
DayPlaceWriteOwnForceWould
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