Dorianne Laux Quotes That Will Inspire You to Live Your Best Life

1. Every good poem asks a question, and every good poet asks every question. The Poet's Companion: A Guide To The Pleasures Of Writing Poetry

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

3. Maybe it's what we don't say/that saves us. What We Carry

4. 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. The Poet's Companion: A Guide To The Pleasures Of Writing Poetry

5. 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. The Poet's Companion: A Guide To The Pleasures Of Writing Poetry

6. Who you are contributes to your poetry in a number of important ways, but you shouldn't identify with your poems so closely that when they are cut, you're the one that bleeds. The Poet's Companion: A Guide To The Pleasures Of Writing Poetry