poet

Fate would never permit happiness to a man of such talent-a content poet is a mediocre one, a happy poet is insufferable.

it was dawning on me how uphill a poet's path was, and I confessed to her that if I had to be the choice between being happy or being a poet, I'd choose to be happy.

Surely there is a knowing behind it all. There is a teacher, an expresser, a creator, an artist perhaps, a poet certainly that has designed and presented all of the clues that we need to navigate life with some degree of grace, and perhaps with a greater degree of happiness than we now have.

To write a poem you must have a streak of arrogance-- not in real life I hope. In real life try to be nice. It will save you a hell of a lot of trouble and give you more time to write.

A poet, any real poet, is simply an alchemist who transmutes his cynicism regarding human beings into an optimism regarding the moon, the stars, the heavens, and the flowers, to say nothing of the spring, love, and dogs.

Because I have an ideal to live up to. And I can't fall down in my own eyes!

Really, he thought, if you couldn't trust a poet to offer sensible advice, who could you trust?

I have indeed lived and worked to my taste either in art or science. What more could a man desire? Knowledge has always been my goal. There is much that I shall leave behind undone_but something at least I was privileged to leave for the world to use, if it so intends_As the Latin poet said I will leave the table of the living like a guest who has eaten his fill. Yes, if I had another life to spend, I certainly would not waste it. But that cannot be, so why complain?

To be a poet is a love affair, not a desire to dare.

Every writer should know their target. Aim for the heart ~ hit that and all which follows is sheer ecstasy.

I do... to this day, think that success is being able to look in the mirror and know that I'm alright on that day. I don't believe I've made it__ believe that I'm making it. I believe that I've found my past so that I can live in the present, it's the most important thing to me. The books and the plays and the touring and the gigs and the speeches and the cash...it all pales into insignificance when compared with knowing that I didn't do anything wrong, and I'm going to be okay now.

Poetry is inspired by the elements of random thoughts, an overflow of gazing at the unseen.

Spirit is a child, the tune of dancing feet its lullaby.

Some days I don't know what is greater.My wisdom, or my stupidity.

The mainspring of genius is curiosity.

All of us,' he said, 'have hopes of being poet, artist, discoverer, philospoher, scientist; of possessing the attributes of all these simultaneously. Few are permitted to achieve any of them in daily life. But in travel we attain them all. Then we have our day of glory, when all our dreams come true, when we can be anything we like, as long as we like, and, when we are tired of it, pull up stakes and move on. Travel -- the solitude of the mountains, the emptiness of the desert, the delicacy of the minaret; eternal change, limitless contrast, unending variety.' (Eric Lang)

Don__ be afraid of your struggles, they are making you dangerously strong and wise. They are preparing you for your superpowers. Let them happen, otherwise you__l stay in the same damn place you__e always been, and until you know there is so much more awesomeness in the world and within you, you__l be content in your tiny cocoon, spinning the same circles day in and day out. Your struggles are transforming you.

...writers, like priests, should have compassion...and a sensitivity to pain...