Writing Poetry Quotes

“But I want to write poetry
of an age dancing
in the tunes of ruptures
that is full of life.”
― Suman Pokhrel

“I need about one hundred fifty drafts of a poem to get it right, and fifty more to make it sound spontaneous.”
― James Dickey

“A good poem cannot be written with one's mind on the earth. Though one has to write poems about the earth and existence, one cannot write poems while staying grounded. To write an outstanding poem, a flight to the heights of transcendence is needed. However, a person cannot always remain in that elevated state. When one descends, they touch the earth and write ordinary stuff.”
― Suman Pokhrel

“Poetry empowers the simplest of lives to confront the most extreme sorrows with courage, and motivates the mightiest of offices to humbly heed lessons in compassion.”
― Aberjhani, Splendid Literarium: A Treasury of Stories, Aphorisms, Poems, and Essays

“I never try to write a poem without its command—when a poem comes and asks to be written, I simply obey.”
― Suman Pokhrel

“I don’t sit down to write unless something stirs from within. I never try to write a poem without its command, when a poem comes and asks to be written, I simply obey. In those moments, as I immerse myself, the words often come more easily. That state of flow, when it happens, is the most rewarding part.”
― Suman Pokhrel

“Sometimes, finding the right closing line or final stanza can be the most elusive task of all.”
― Suman Pokhrel

“My writing, it’s my way of making sense of everything. My way to feel whole. May I never be complete and may I never feel content – please, let me always have the need, always have the urge to write. ”
― Charlotte Eriksson

“She had her image… and anything added to that would be mere verse-making. Something might come of it some day. In the meanwhile she had got her mood on to paper—and this is the release that all writers, even the feeblest, seek for as men seek for love; and, having found it, they doze off happily into dreams and trouble their hearts no further.”
― Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night

“On Writing Poetry: Take everyday words beyond everyday talent and write them alive.”
― C.J. Heck

“poetry is not—except in a very limited sense—a form of self-expression. Who on earth supposes that the pearl expresses the oyster?”
― Cecil Day-Lewis, Selected Poetry

“There are many things you can lie your way through; poetry is not one of them.”
― Nicole Lyons

“...when a good poet is confronted with difficult facts that he knows to be true but also are inimical to poetry, he has no choice but to flee to the margins; it was...this very retreat that allowed him to hear the hidden music that is the source of all art.”
― Orhan Pamuk, Snow

“Fruition-
Think of writing as a harvest.
You till the ground.
Plant.
Water.
Wait.
Apple trees take years to bear fruit.
Harvest.
Clean.
Process.
Then you have apple pie.”
― Keelie Breanna

“Writing poetry is a passion, ignited by thoughts, fueled by ink. A way to travel through another mind, where souvenirs of tears are tucked away inside your soul. Or leave you with smiles for miles, depending on which route you go.”
― Renee Dixon

“Some people imagine that rhyme interferes with the rational processes of thought by obliging us to distort what we originally had in mind. But are rational processes so important? In many of us, even in poets, they can be dull and predictable. An interruption, a few detours and unexpected turns, might make a trip with them less routine. The necessity of finding a rhyme may jolt the mind out of its ruts, force it to turn wildly across the fields in some more exhilarating direction. Force it out of the world of reason into the world of mystery, magic, and imagination, in which relationships between sounds may be as exciting as a Great Idea.”
― John Frederick Nims and David Mason

“Poetry stirs the soul and speaks to the mind to understand the beauty we call life ~ Mala Naidoo”
― Mala Naidoo, Random Heart Poetry: Light and Shade

“Isn't it far better to live a poetic life than to spend one's life writing Poetry?”
― Pietros Maneos, The Italian Pleasures of Gabriele Paterkallos

“Poetry is not difficult. If you possess one of the five senses, poetry is in it. If you can compose text message, tweet or Facebook status, you can write poetry. If you can rap a song, you can rhyme poetry. If you can memorise a prayer, you can recite poetry. If you struggle to make sense of formatted text, poetry is your call.”
― Gloria D. Gonsalves

“When you are a poet, you need to be saying something that cannot be said by other people. Poets don't necessarily need to be first-rate readers of poetry, because when they start to write poems they already have what they need, they've been living it. When I tell my story--to anyone--it's as if I'm reciting poetry.”
― Mosab Abu Toha, Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza