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

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...

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...

Poetry leads us to the unstructured sources of our beings, to the unknown, and returns...

Poetry leads us to the unstructured sources of our beings, to the unknown, and returns...

Only silence perfects silence.

Only silence perfects silence.

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...

Definition, rationality, and structure are ways of seeing, but they become prisons when they blank...

Definition, rationality, and structure are ways of seeing, but they become prisons when they blank...

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...

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,...

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,...

If we ask a vague question, such as, 'What is poetry?' we expect a vague...

If we ask a vague question, such as, 'What is poetry?' we expect a vague...

Besides the actual reading in class of many poems, I would suggest you do two...

Besides the actual reading in class of many poems, I would suggest you do two...

Everything is discursive opinion instead of direct experience.

Everything is discursive opinion instead of direct experience.

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

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

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...

I am grateful for - though I can't keep up with - the flood of...

I am grateful for - though I can't keep up with - the flood of...

In nature there are few sharp lines.

In nature there are few sharp lines.

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...