37 Quotes by Pattiann Rogers

In poetry I can let the language go, allow an image that seems out of place to enter and see what happens, always listening to the music that’s being created, just like the world around us, never predictable, always shifting and intertwining, reflecting and echoing itself.

I think the language of science is highly lyrical and evocative and an important part of our lives in many ways.

I’ve spent much of my life being attuned to watching for an image or a phrase that can trigger what might be a poem – could become a poem.

Ordering is very important with essays, even if a reader doesn’t read the essays or the poems in order through the book.

I have thought for many years that the audience any creative writer imagines has a great effect on what gets written.

A poetic list is a talent in itself. You can write a list of things, and it can be boring.

If I’m excited by something bodily, and curious about it, I generally want to delve into it and explore it with poetry. That’s the way I ordinarily watch the world around me.

For me, prose is never a poem. Because with prose there are so very few tools to create the music. And one of the most important tools missing is the ability to create silences, as you can in poetry by how you fashion the lines and breaks within the lines and stanzas.

I’m all in favor of poets telling about the process as much as they can. And many do.