While I've had a great distaste for what's usually called song in modern poetry or for what's usually called music, I really don't think of speech as so far from song.

Quote by David Antin

Topics: David Antin Quotes

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...

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...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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

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

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

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

My mother turned into a professional widow. She couldn't understand why I wanted to be...

My mother turned into a professional widow. She couldn't understand why I wanted to be...

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

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

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...

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 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 have spoken to expert audiences occasionally, but then no audience is expert over the...

I have spoken to expert audiences occasionally, but then no audience is expert over the...

My way of thinking is very particular and concrete. It doesn't follow a continuous path.

My way of thinking is very particular and concrete. It doesn't follow a continuous path.

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...

I've always had a strong feeling for the Statue of Liberty, because it became the...

I've always had a strong feeling for the Statue of Liberty, because it became the...

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...