Once every five hundred years or so, a summary statement about poetry comes along that we can't imagine ourselves living without.

Quote by A R Ammons

Everything is discursive opinion instead of direct experience.

Everything is discursive opinion instead of direct experience.

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...

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...

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...

Is it not careless to become too local when there are four hundred billion stars...

Is it not careless to become too local when there are four hundred billion stars...

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.

That's a wonderful change that's taken place, and so most poetry today is published, if...

That's a wonderful change that's taken place, and so most poetry today is published, if...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

Only silence perfects silence.

Only silence perfects silence.

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...

Anything looked at closely becomes wonderful.

Anything looked at closely becomes wonderful.

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...