97 Quotes by Tracy K. Smith
- Author Tracy K. Smith
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One of poetry’s great effects, through its emphasis upon feeling, association, music and image — things we recognize and respond to even before we understand why — is to guide us toward the part of ourselves so deeply buried that it borders upon the collective."Staying Human: Poetry in the Age of Technology
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So why do we insistHe has vanished, that death ran off with ourEverything worth having? Why not that he wasSwimming only through this life--his slow,Graceful crawl, shoulders rippling,Legs slicing away at the waves, glidingFurther into what life itself denies?He is only gone so far as we can tell. ThoughWhen I try, I see the white cloud of his hairIn the distance like an eternity.
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Like a god, / I believe in nothing.
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History is a ship forever setting sail.
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Is God being or pure force? The windOr what commands it? When our lives slowAnd we can hold all that we love, it sprawlsIn our laps like a gangly doll. When the stormKicks up and nothing is ours, we go chasingAfter all we’re certain to lose, so alive—Faces radiant with panic.
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I didn't want to wait on my kneesIn a room made quiet by waiting. A room where we'd listen for the riseOf breath, the burble in his throat. I didn't want the orchids or the traysOf food meant to fortify that silence, Or to pray for him to stay or to go thenFinally toward that ecstatic light. I didn't want to believeWhat we believe in those rooms: That we are blessed, letting go,Letting someone, anyone, Drag open the drapes and heave usBack into our blinding, bright lives.
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(A poem can lie.)
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Is it strange to say love is a language Few practice, but all, or near all speak?
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In the '70s, everything shone as bright as brass.
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