Quotes* & Tips on the Writing Life
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Quotes |
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Tips |
—Richard Wilbur, as quoted in Atlantic Unbound interview with Peter Davison in The Light Within the Light, Jeanne Braham
Get on with it. Don't wait for the Muse to visit.
—Bill O'Hanlon, Write is a Verb
The poem/feeds upon thought, feeling, impulse,/ to breed itself,/a spiritual urgency at the dark ladders leaping.
—Robert Duncan, from "Poetry, A Natural Thing" in The Opening of the Field
Frost was one poet who really did, in his own words, implicate the vocal image in a sentence and fasten it to the page.'
—Henry Lyman, After Frost an Anthology of Poetry From New England
In the poetry of attention, the poet comes to his senses.
—Donald Revell, the art of ATTENT!ON
Poetry has got to be supersaturated.
—Kay Ryan on Anne Sexton, Poetry Speaks
Let us, then, be up and doing/With a heart for any fate;/Still achieving, still pursuing,/Learn to labor and to wait.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "A Psalm of Life"
Good/Poetry/Makes the universe admit a/Secret
—Hafiz, from "I am Really Just a Tambourne,"
in David Ladinsky's translation, The Gift
Those things in nature that touch you will become your haiku.
—Bruce Ross, How to Haiku
I believe that a writer has to develop skill and craft first, then go to the biggest
barrel of darkness or silence he or she can find and wait for something to come up.
—John O'Donohue, The Sun (April 2007)
*All quotes are for educational purposes and intended
to encourage further research into attributed sources.
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Find out what's hot now! Stay tuned to this new section
where readers have the opportunity to share comments
where readers have the opportunity to share comments
on the books of poetry they are currently reading!
Tell us about the latest book of poetry YOU are reading.
(Include author name/publisher name/date of publication
and your full name/e-mail address.)
and your full name/e-mail address.)
Tell us why you like this book so much (in 50 words or less).
Click her to submit your entry: info@encirclepub.com.
IF YOUR ENTRY IS CHOSEN, IT WILL APPEAR ON THIS PAGE
AND YOUR NAME WILL GO INTO A MONTHLY DRAWING
FOR A FREE COPY OF THE NEXT AUROREAN ISSUE!
(Entries cannot be acknowledged.)
(Entries cannot be acknowledged.)
WHAT I'M READING: Fidelity by Grace Paley (2008, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux). I've always admired Grace Paley, but more importantly, this is a book of poetry I want to read aloud--to everyone. It's that thought-provoking. If you're a woman over 50, you are ready to face Fidelity. It's going everywhere I go this summer and I'm shouting it from the rooftops.
—Cynthia Brackett-Vincent
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Funky Fonts
When submitting material to an editor, use a very clear typeface such as Times, Times New Roman, Courier, Helvetica, or the like. Script-y fonts such as Chancery and Lucinda are gorgeous—for invitations, advertisements, graphic design. Instead of impressing an editor though, these may distract her from being able to read your work clearly—or worse, send her looking for magnifying glasses or her migraine medicine.
Contact Information
When you send correspondence to an editor (besides that mandatory, all-important SASE!), include your e-mail address if you have one. It is very helpful for us here at THE AUROREAN to have e-mail addresses, since we acknowledge ALL submissions. Each submission that we acknowledge by mail now costs us 26¢. That means we spend over $1 to acknowledge every four submissions that come in without e-mail addresses (and much more for international submissions). In advance then, we thank you for including your e-mail address if possible in all correspondence.
Sending Appropriate Material:
There is probably no reason more common for submissions to be rejected from a particular journal than the submission of inappropriate material. Save yourself precious time and postage costs by submitting material that is apt for each market. Of course, no one can subscribe to or even purchase a copy of all the poetry journals they are interested in, but most journals offer back issues at a substantially reduced rate. Small Press Review (http://www.dustbooks.com) even lists publications that give away overstocked issues (usually for a nominal postage fee). Give your work its best chance by sending only appropriate material.
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Watch for new quotes & tips as they are added!
Get inspired!
