#poem

A writer's work often reflects what he or she has been exposed to in life; experiences which are the groundwork of a poem or a story. ↗

— Eyvind Johnson

#experiences #exposed #groundwork #life #often

They’re close. Voices loud and fierce, Slapping faces with words. A scream … A cry … They’re getting closer. Did I lock the door? It’s too late to check. They’re coming. I barely move, barely breathe. Perhaps they’ll go away. But they’re getting closer. The door slams against the wall. My eyes squeeze shut. This curtain is not a shield. They’re here. They’ve come for me. I freeze. Metal rings clank together. My barrier is cast aside. Wearily, I look. Reddened eyes glower at one another … But not at me. I wonder. A moment of silence … Water streams down my face. Steam rolls around my flesh. I glare at the intruders And slide the curtain between us. I wait. He shrieks, “She took my glow stick!” She howls, “No, I didn’t!” I scowl. “Go tell your father about it.” They leave. I inhale the lavender mist. Slather bubbles over my skin. Five more minutes … And, next time, I shall lock the door. ↗

— Barbara Brooke

#family #humor #meditation #poem #poetry

I'm old enough, by a long shot, to remember going to the library and spending days researching. If I was looking for a line from a poem or something else I needed, that would be the trip I would have to take. ↗

— Charlie Kaufman

#else #enough #going #i #library

I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree. ↗

— Joyce Kilmer

#i #i think #lovely #never #poem

When you finish a poem, it clicks shut like the top of a jewel box, but prose is endless. I haven't experienced an awful lot of clicking shut! ↗

— Kenneth Koch

#box #clicking #clicks #endless #experienced

You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies, that is why you must sing and dance, and write poems and suffer and understand, for all that is life. ↗

— Jiddu Krishnamurti

#just #just one #life #little #look

If you know what you are going to write when you're writing a poem, it's going to be average. ↗

— Derek Walcott

#going #know #poem #write #writing

My poems are almost all written as Diane. I don't have any problems with that, and if other women choose to identify with this, I think that's terrific. ↗

— Diane Wakoski

#any #choose #diane #i #i think

How do poems grow? They grow out of your life. ↗

— Robert Penn Warren

#grow #how #life #out #poems

Twitter was like a poem. It was rich, real and spontaneous. It really fit my style. In a year and a half, I tweeted 60,000 tweets, over 100,000 words. I spent a minimum eight hours a day on it, sometimes 24 hours. ↗

— Ai Weiwei

#eight #fit #half #hours #i