37 Quotes by Pattiann Rogers

I approach writing a poem in a much different state than when I am writing prose. It’s almost as if I were working in a different language when I’m writing poetry. The words – what they are and what they can become – the possibilities of the words are vastly expanded for me when I’m writing a poem.

I see my poems as interlinked. No poem gives an answer. It may offer other questions, it may instigate other questions that then become poems.

One of the most important differences I see between prose and poetry is the music of the language.

Poetry is so close to music, not just in cadence and sound but in silences. That’s why, to me, I can’t talk about prose poems. I can talk about poetic prose.

To my mind, most prose poems are more prose than poetry. They don’t possess most of the qualities of a poem.

The greatest tragedy that can befall a poet is to be praised by being misunderstood.

I love the language. I’m just totally fascinated by the sound and the look of words and the kinds of cadences you can create with them, the various kinds of music.

The silences express so much and are so crucial in music, and prose does not allow for the creation of these silences, these white spaces on the page or the computer screen.

Sometimes, as in an athletic event where everything clicks, inexplicable things do happen. Learning and practicing an art or a skill has always been part of the success of the goal.