Each poem in becoming generates the laws by which it is generated: extensions of the laws to other poems never completely take.

Quote by A R Ammons

For though we often need to be restored to the small, concrete, limited, and certain,...

For though we often need to be restored to the small, concrete, limited, and certain,...

Even if you walk exactly the same route each time - as with a sonnet...

Even if you walk exactly the same route each time - as with a sonnet...

Only silence perfects silence.

Only silence perfects silence.

I can't tell you where a poem comes from, what it is, or what it...

I can't tell you where a poem comes from, what it is, or what it...

Probably all the attention to poetry results in some value, though the attention is more...

Probably all the attention to poetry results in some value, though the attention is more...

If a poem is each time new, then it is necessarily an act of discovery,...

If a poem is each time new, then it is necessarily an act of discovery,...

There's something to be said in favor of working in isolation in the real world.

There's something to be said in favor of working in isolation in the real world.

I must stress here the point that I appreciate clarity, order, meaning, structure, rationality: they...

I must stress here the point that I appreciate clarity, order, meaning, structure, rationality: they...

Questions structure and, so, to some extent predetermine answers.

Questions structure and, so, to some extent predetermine answers.

In nature there are few sharp lines.

In nature there are few sharp lines.

A poem generated by its own laws may be unrealized and bad in terms of...

A poem generated by its own laws may be unrealized and bad in terms of...

Everything is discursive opinion instead of direct experience.

Everything is discursive opinion instead of direct experience.

You have your identity when you find out, not what you can keep your mind...

You have your identity when you find out, not what you can keep your mind...

The poet exposes himself to the risk. All that has been said about poetry, all...

The poet exposes himself to the risk. All that has been said about poetry, all...

If the greatest god is the stillness all the motions add up to, then we...

If the greatest god is the stillness all the motions add up to, then we...

Once every five hundred years or so, a summary statement about poetry comes along that...

Once every five hundred years or so, a summary statement about poetry comes along that...

I take the walk to be the externalization of an interior seeking so that the...

I take the walk to be the externalization of an interior seeking so that the...