Poets On Poetry Quotes

“I hope that someday when I am gone, someone, somewhere, picks my soul up off of these pages and thinks, "I would have loved her.”
― Nicole Lyons

“A single poem, alone
can turn tides
scatter galaxies
and burst forth with rivers
from paradise.”
― Sanober Khan, A Thousand Flamingos

“But if a stranger in the train asks me my occupation, I never answer "writer" for fear that he may go on to ask me what I write, and to answer "poetry" would embarrass us both, for we both know that nobody can earn a living simply by writing poetry.”
― W.H. Auden, The Dyer's Hand and Other Essays

“The poem in which the reader does not feel himself or herself a participant is a lecture, listened to from an uncomfortable chair, in a stuffy room, inside a building.”
― Mary Oliver, Winter Hours: Prose, Prose Poems, and Poems

“Don’t be a poet, my darling
The taxidermist for ideas and lost dreams”
― Erna Grcic, Beneath the Surface

“Someone told me "I want to go to your hometown.
Someday I will go there and I will smile till the time I will stay there and be happy because its your home town. I am going to see you in every wall, every street, every glass, in every person, in every wave of the sea and smile.”
― Avijeet Das

“One of the things we do as poets, is to try to preserve experiences, people, places important to us, in an effort to save them from time's erasure.”
― Grace Nichols, Passport to Here and There

“Poet's superpower is pain.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Mucize Misafir Merhaba: The Peace Testament

“As the leaves fell slowly
from the trees,
you played your violin for me,
and I recited my poem for you...”
― Avijeet Das

“i write
because
it were these
words
that brought
you and me
to each other”
― Avijeet Das

“Poet doesn't write poetry, poetry writes the poet.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Corazon Calamidad: Obedient to None, Oppressive to None

“I don't know how to write poetry, because I am the poetry.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Esperanza Impossible: 100 Sonnets of Ethics, Engineering & Existence

“The Himalayan Sonneteer

Anybody can be extraordinary,
If they are born into privilege.
But only the ones with no background,
Can exude the impossible radiance.
Some lights are far too bright,
For an amateur species to see.
Just like we can't hear above 20 kHz,
Humanity fails to fathom impossibility.
That's why they idolize artificial lights,
Because the sun is beyond comprehension.
If they ever stare straight at the sun,
They'll go blind for sure, there is no question.
So they celebrate little hills with skin-deep charisma,
While it takes the world centuries to fathom the Himalayas.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Esperanza Impossible: 100 Sonnets of Ethics, Engineering & Existence

“Poetry and Philosophy (The Sonnet)

Good poetry is but philosophy,
Good philosophy is but poetry.
It is only the majority amateurs,
Who insist on a divided duality.
Poetry is not about the rhyming,
Philosophy is not about profundity.
A warm philosopher is walking poetry,
A gentle poet is walking philosophy.
Poetry is the most potent form of philosophy,
As it brings illumination through simplicity.
Anybody can make things sound more complicated,
Only the best philosophers can write good poetry.
In philosophy, deeper we go, simpler things get.
Philosopher talks of light, poet swims in it.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission

“Poetry is the most potent form of philosophy.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission

“Poet has no power over the muse,
It's the muse who powers the poet.
Best of poetry is an act of selfless care,
As the poet pens the pain through hopelessness.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Yarasistan: My Wounds, My Crown

“Poet has no power over the muse, it's the muse who powers the poet.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Yarasistan: My Wounds, My Crown

“No pain, no poetry.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Aşk Mafia: Armor of The World

“Because Poets don't dream of becoming millionaires.”
― Avijeet Das

“Because life is so much more than internet, bank balance, and materialistic possessions. Poets don't dream of becoming millionaires.”
― Avijeet Das

“We became poets
before we learned to walk
Our roots dug deep
with the slight touch of love
Our leaves sprouted after pain.”
― Avijeet Das

“Good poetry isn't born,
When everything makes sense.
Good poetry is born,
When nothing makes sense.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Divane Dynamite: Only truth in the cosmos is love

“Genius writers write simple,
Garbage writers write fancy.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Insan Himalayanoğlu: It's Time to Defect

“Because I am the King of Poetry!”
― Avijeet Das

“WITHOUT END

There is no final poem, just as
there was no original poem, and
if there was a tree that held a knowledge
of good and evil then we have done nothing
with that knowledge, moving back and forth
between the two, perplexed as sparrows
in a storm batting their small heads against
windows they don't see. The poem
is betwixt and beyond, within and out,
not the apple eaten, but the planets
themselves the apple and core, and we
the hungry, open, O-”
― Vievee Francis, The Shared World: Poems

“When air becomes breath,
and cells become sentient,
Words become poetry,
and facts become science.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Yaralardan Yangın Doğar: Explorers of Night are Emperors of Dawn

“Poetry has a unique ability to distill complex emotions into a few lines, creating a powerful impact that lingers in the hearts of readers. As a poet, one learns to harness the potency of words, selecting them with precision to convey nuances and evoke empathy.”
― LaTesha Monique

“Words are my leisure,
Words are my life.
Words are my gift to thee,
Use 'em wisely for light.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets

“Under the starry sky,
I count every dim space.”
― Ritu Negi

“What is Poetry
(My Sonnet, My Rules)

Any gargoyle can google
the definition of a sonnet,
Any robot can write and
rhyme 14 lines of a sonnet.

Number of lines don't make sonnet,
Impeccable rhyme don't make poetry.
Critics, police and gatekeepers are
usually least capable of originality.

It's okay if it's few lines extra,
It's okay if it's couple lines less.
It's okay if it doesn't rhyme at all,
It's the soul that matters, not vessels.

You're welcome to your dead laws of poetry,
while I bring poetry to life, shaping society.”
― Abhijit Naskar, World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets