10 Great Quotes About Poets, Poetry, and Writing by Dorianne Laux

~ Paul Szlosek

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“Every poem I write falls short in some important way. But I go on trying to write the one that won’t.”

“Writing and reading are the only ways to find your voice. It won’t magically burst forth in your poems the next time you sit down to write, or the next; but little by little, as you become aware of more choices and begin to make them consciously and unconsciouslyyour style will develop.”

“If you want to be a writer in the world you really have to sit down and say, Why do I want to do this and why was I drawn to it to begin with? And keep reminding yourself to return to that original impulse.”

“A poem is like a child; at some point we have to let it go and trust that it will make its own way in the world.”

“To write without any awareness of a tradition you are trying to become a part of would be self-defeating. Every artist alive responds to the history of his or her art – borrowing, stealing, rebelling against, and building on what other artists have done.”

“We aren’t suggesting that mental instability or unhappiness makes one a better poet, or a poet at all; and contrary to the romantic notion of the artist suffering for his or her work, we think these writers achieved brilliance in spite of their suffering, not because of it.”

“Poetry is an intimate act. It’s about bringing forth something that’s inside you whether it is a memory, a philosophical idea, a deep love for another person or for the world, or an apprehension of the spiritual. It’s about making something, in language, which can be transmitted to others not as information, or polemic, but as irreducible art.”

“I would say my life experiences are my poetry, whether I’m writing about those actual, factual experiences or not.”

“Good writing works from a simple premise: your experience is not yours alone, but in some sense a metaphor for everyone’s.”

“There is so much about the process of writing that is mysterious to me, but this one thing I’ve found to be true: writing begets writing.”

—Dorianne Laux

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Published by Paul Szlosek

Paul Szlosek was born in Southbridge, Massachusetts, but currently resides in the nearby metropolis of Worcester. He was co-founder and host of the long-running Poet’s Parlor poetry reading in Southbridge and Sturbridge, as well as a past recipient of the Jacob Knight Award for Poetry. His poems have appeared in various local publications including the Worcester Review, Worcester Magazine, Sahara, Concrete Wolf, and Diner. He’s probably best known in the Worcester poetry community for his fanatical obsession with obscure poetry forms, and has invented his own including the ziggurat, the streetbeatina, and (most recently) the hodgenelle.

8 thoughts on “10 Great Quotes About Poets, Poetry, and Writing by Dorianne Laux”

  2. This quote in particular resonated with me, but more as a reader than a writer: “Good writing works from a simple premise: your experience is not yours alone, but in some sense a metaphor for everyone’s.”

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