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“I've tried
to become someone else for a while,
only to discover that he, too, was me.”
―
to become someone else for a while,
only to discover that he, too, was me.”
―
“I'll say I love you,
Which will lead, of course,
to disappointment,
but those words unsaid
poison every next moment.
I will try to disappoint you
better than anyone else has.”
― Different Hours
Which will lead, of course,
to disappointment,
but those words unsaid
poison every next moment.
I will try to disappoint you
better than anyone else has.”
― Different Hours
“Altruism is for those
who can't endure their desires.
There's a world
as ambiguous as a moan,
a pleasure moan
our earnest neighbors
might think a crime.
It's where we could live.
I'll say I love you,
Which will lead, of course,
to disappointment,
but those words unsaid
poison every next moment.
I will try to disappoint you
better than anyone else has.
--Mon Semblable”
― Different Hours
who can't endure their desires.
There's a world
as ambiguous as a moan,
a pleasure moan
our earnest neighbors
might think a crime.
It's where we could live.
I'll say I love you,
Which will lead, of course,
to disappointment,
but those words unsaid
poison every next moment.
I will try to disappoint you
better than anyone else has.
--Mon Semblable”
― Different Hours
“I love what's left after love has been tested.”
―
―
“Connubial
Because with alarming accuracy
she’d been identifying patterns
I was unaware of—this tic, that
tendency, like the way I've mastered
the language of intimacy
in order to conceal how I felt—
I knew I was in danger
of being terribly understood.”
―
Because with alarming accuracy
she’d been identifying patterns
I was unaware of—this tic, that
tendency, like the way I've mastered
the language of intimacy
in order to conceal how I felt—
I knew I was in danger
of being terribly understood.”
―
“When I stop becoming, that's when I worry.”
―
―
“Although I know it's unfair, I reveal myself one mask at a time.”
―
―
“Now and again I feel the astonishment of being alive like this, in this body.”
― New and Selected Poems, 1974-1994
― New and Selected Poems, 1974-1994
“I make myself up from everything I am, or could be. For many years I was more desire than fact. When I stop becoming, that’s when I worry.”
― Walking Light
― Walking Light
“All I wanted was a job like a book so good I'd be finishing it for the rest of my life.”
―
―
“May you turn
stone, my daughter,
into silk. May you make men better
than they are.”
― New and Selected Poems 1974-1994
stone, my daughter,
into silk. May you make men better
than they are.”
― New and Selected Poems 1974-1994
“Originality, of course, is what occurs when something new arises out of what's already been done.”
― Walking Light
― Walking Light
“All good poems are victories over something.”
―
―
“There are always the simple events of your life that you might try to convert into legend.”
―
―
“That time I thought I was in love
and calmly said so
was not much different from the time
I was truly in love
and slept poorly and spoke out loud
to the wall
and discovered the hidden genius
of my hands
And the times I felt less in love,
less than someone,
were, to be honest, not so different
either.
Each was ridiculous in its own way
and each was tender, yes,
sometimes even the false is tender.
I am astonished
by the various kisses we’re capable of.
Each from different heights
diminished, which is simply the law.
And the big bruise
from the long fall looked perfectly white
in a few years.
That astounded me most of all.”
―
and calmly said so
was not much different from the time
I was truly in love
and slept poorly and spoke out loud
to the wall
and discovered the hidden genius
of my hands
And the times I felt less in love,
less than someone,
were, to be honest, not so different
either.
Each was ridiculous in its own way
and each was tender, yes,
sometimes even the false is tender.
I am astonished
by the various kisses we’re capable of.
Each from different heights
diminished, which is simply the law.
And the big bruise
from the long fall looked perfectly white
in a few years.
That astounded me most of all.”
―
“He held her like a new woman
and what she felt
felt almost as good as love had,
and each of them called it love
because precision didn’t matter anymore.”
―
and what she felt
felt almost as good as love had,
and each of them called it love
because precision didn’t matter anymore.”
―
“Bring to me, it said, continual proof / you've been alive.”
―
―
“Where are we going?
It’s not an issue of here or there.
And if you ever feel you can’t
take another step, imagine
how you might feel to arrive,
if not wiser, a little more aware
how to inhabit the middle ground
between misery and joy.
Trudge on. In the higher regions,
where the footing is unsure,
to trudge is to survive.”
― Lines of Defense: Poems
It’s not an issue of here or there.
And if you ever feel you can’t
take another step, imagine
how you might feel to arrive,
if not wiser, a little more aware
how to inhabit the middle ground
between misery and joy.
Trudge on. In the higher regions,
where the footing is unsure,
to trudge is to survive.”
― Lines of Defense: Poems
“Anyone out without the excuse of a dog
should be handcuffed
and searched for loneliness.”
― Different Hours
should be handcuffed
and searched for loneliness.”
― Different Hours
“I don't think I'd complain if I were overrated.”
―
―
“He didn’t want to be
this thin man whose desires
were barely covered by skin,
standing absolutely still.
But everytime he moved
there was another place to go,
and everytime sadness would arrive
with its wonderful cocoon
not even that would last.”
― A Circus of Needs: Poems
this thin man whose desires
were barely covered by skin,
standing absolutely still.
But everytime he moved
there was another place to go,
and everytime sadness would arrive
with its wonderful cocoon
not even that would last.”
― A Circus of Needs: Poems
“I am astonished
by the various kisses we’re capable of.
Each from different heights
diminished, which is simply the law.
And the big bruise
from the long fall looked perfectly white
in a few years.
That astounded me most of all.”
― New and Selected Poems, 1974-1994
by the various kisses we’re capable of.
Each from different heights
diminished, which is simply the law.
And the big bruise
from the long fall looked perfectly white
in a few years.
That astounded me most of all.”
― New and Selected Poems, 1974-1994
“Finally, what I want from poetry is akin to what Flaubert wanted from novels. He thought they should make us dream. I want a poem, through its precisions and accuracies, to make me remember what I know, or what I might have known if I hadn't been constrained by convention or habit.”
―
―
“When people praise a poem that I can't understand I always think they're lying.”
―
―
“Too many poets are insufficiently interested in story. Their poems could be improved if they gave in more to the strictures of fiction: the establishment of a clear dramatic situation, and a greater awareness that first-person narrators are also characters and must be treated as such by their authors. The true lyric poet, of course, is exempt from this. But many poets wrongly think they are lyric poets.”
―
―
“I was calm, no one wants the kind of calm I was.”
―
―
