Fragments of Poetry

I

The most mysterious thing about poetry is that poets, even while lacking any prospect of reward or recognition, continue to find it satisfying to write.

II.

What does it matter if there are poets and poems?

III.

Smile, if only from politeness, at the one moment of the world that concerns you.

IV.

A poet only needs one poem, a poem only one reader.

V.

A poets emotional signature is retained in the poem.

VI.

Poems haunting the precarious dialect between existence and extinction do not need it. Their magic is dependent on the private experience of seperate  individuals.

VII.

Poets whose readings lead us to believe ourselves part of  a spontaneous and instinctive consensus have left poetry behind. Perhaps for the better.

VIII.

To poetry as elsewhere, nature isin't what it used to be.

IX.

The poem resists. It resists coming into being. It resists eloquence. It resists transmitting unpleasant or embarrassing knowledge. It resists grammatical constraints. It resists moving from away from simple utterance. It resists revision.  It resists completion.  It resists success. Hopefully the poet resists as well.

X.

Poetry in the abstract, offends no one.

XI.

A word can be a seed of which an entire poem grows

XII.

A poet is buried in the obliterated whiteness beneath the dark letters of the the poem.

X