Andy Hamilton

“One of the most begrudging avian take-offs
is the heron's ‘fucking hell, all right, all right,
I'll go the garage for your flaming fags’
cranky departure, though once they're up
their flight can be extravagant. I watched
one big spender climb the thermal staircase,
a calorific waterspout of frogs
and sticklebacks, the undercarriage down
and trailing. Seen from antiquity
you gain the Icarus thing; seen from my childhood
that cursing man sets out for Superkings,
though the heron cares for neither as it struggles
into its wings then soars sunwards and throws
its huge overcoat across the earth.”
― Paul Farley, Selected Poems

“A happy man has no past, while an unhappy man has nothing else.”
― Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North

“We are very arrogant to think we alone have a totally original mind. We are carried on the backs of all the writers who came before us.”
― Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within

“A good book ... leaves you wanting to reread the book. A great book compels you to reread your own soul.”
― Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North