Being A Poet Quotes

“And this is what being an artist means, being a poet? To sacrifice yourself for your art, sacrifice your heart for your art, because it’s only through something broken that something beautiful can grow.”
― Charlotte Eriksson, Empty Roads & Broken Bottles: in search for The Great Perhaps

“I once tried hawking my own book around the pubs in the hope that, like the Salvation Army, I too could sell to the cerebrally relaxed. It was a disaster. I had beer thrown over me for being a) a nuisance, b) not as good as Wordsworth and c) a nancy for writing poetry in the first place.”
― Peter Finch

“I had to slow down. If I was going to listen to Venice properly I needed to hear the cadence of the place. I needed to stand still. <...> I thought of Whitman observing the parade of humanity with lewd concentration. Walt had a good ear. He loved opera and knew how to sit perfectly still.”
― Stephen Kuusisto, Eavesdropping

“My sin was to pursue a career as a poet and to desire an identity beyond that of wife and mother. As a result, I am not worthy of being a significant part of my son's life anymore. I was written off for daring to believe I could exist as an individual rather than simply an extension of my family.”
― Maryam Diener, Beyond Black There Is No Colour: The Story of Forough Farrokhzad

“The essence of a poet lies not in articulating thoughts, but in bleeding raw emotion onto the page.
It's a tumultuous dance, a desperate clinging to individuality in a world striving for uniformity. To feel is to be an anomaly, a rebel against the current.
And therein lies the poet's struggle - a lifelong fight to preserve the untamed spirit within, a battle waged with every word.”
― Monika Ajay Kaul