I hardly remember how I started to write poetry. It's hard to imagine what I thought poetry could do.

Quote by David Antin

Topics: David Antin Quotes

I wanted to be an inventor, whatever I thought that meant then. I guess I...

I wanted to be an inventor, whatever I thought that meant then. I guess I...

My rejection of the idea of entertainment in its current form is based on the...

My rejection of the idea of entertainment in its current form is based on the...

While I've had a great distaste for what's usually called song in modern poetry or...

While I've had a great distaste for what's usually called song in modern poetry or...

Stories are different every time you tell them - they allow so many possible narratives.

Stories are different every time you tell them - they allow so many possible narratives.

I tended to emphasize the secular, the casual, the colloquial, the vernacular against the sacred.

I tended to emphasize the secular, the casual, the colloquial, the vernacular against the sacred.

I reserve the right to tell shaggy dog stories or even common jokes as part...

I reserve the right to tell shaggy dog stories or even common jokes as part...

A myth is the name of a terrible lie told by a smelly little brown...

A myth is the name of a terrible lie told by a smelly little brown...

I'm not sure what theory is, unless it's the pursuit of fundamental questions.

I'm not sure what theory is, unless it's the pursuit of fundamental questions.

I can manage a prose format as long as I keep closer to Laurence Sterne...

I can manage a prose format as long as I keep closer to Laurence Sterne...

I am quite unsatisfied by the distinctions between the oral and literate.

I am quite unsatisfied by the distinctions between the oral and literate.

The ancient Greek oral poets all had this anxiety about the deficiencies of their memories...

The ancient Greek oral poets all had this anxiety about the deficiencies of their memories...

When my mother left her second husband, she wrote her autobiography and presented it to...

When my mother left her second husband, she wrote her autobiography and presented it to...

When I got to the reading all the work, I was reduced to being an...

When I got to the reading all the work, I was reduced to being an...

You pay your money, you take your choice. I get the audience my language attracts...

You pay your money, you take your choice. I get the audience my language attracts...

I'm aware of my audience in a way, and I do try to engage with...

I'm aware of my audience in a way, and I do try to engage with...

The Sophists' paradoxical talk pieces and their public debates were entertainment in 5th century Greece....

The Sophists' paradoxical talk pieces and their public debates were entertainment in 5th century Greece....

I didn't think about whether I was writing poems. I was thinking. And the more...

I didn't think about whether I was writing poems. I was thinking. And the more...

From this entertainment industry, may the gods of language protect us.

From this entertainment industry, may the gods of language protect us.

I was very committed to the process of composing, working at poems, putting things together...

I was very committed to the process of composing, working at poems, putting things together...

When you grow up in a family of languages, you develop a kind of casual...

When you grow up in a family of languages, you develop a kind of casual...