There are editing procedures for talks just as there are editing procedures in jazz improvisation.

Quote by David Antin

Topics: David Antin Quotes

It's hard being a hostage in somebody else's mouth - or a character in somebody...

It's hard being a hostage in somebody else's mouth - or a character in somebody...

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.

Children frequently sing meaningful phrases to themselves over and over again before they learn to...

Children frequently sing meaningful phrases to themselves over and over again before they learn to...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

While I don't script and I don't use other performers, I think my taste for...

While I don't script and I don't use other performers, I think my taste for...

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...

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

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

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...

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'm standing up thinking. Anybody who wants to listen is welcome. If not, I'm happy...

I'm standing up thinking. Anybody who wants to listen is welcome. If not, I'm happy...

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...

The self is an oral society in which the present is constantly running a dialogue...

The self is an oral society in which the present is constantly running a dialogue...

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...

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

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

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.

Disney made a fortune out of inventing the businessman's idea of the imaginary as the...

Disney made a fortune out of inventing the businessman's idea of the imaginary as the...