quotes from classic

I grew up in Ohio, where civil-rights accomplishments had already begun to accelerate before Martin Luther King appeared. In hindsight, we know that many people, black and white, were instrumental in changing the Jim Crow status quo on all levels.

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I think reading Shakespeare's plays when I was young was extremely important. He had the ability to make utter strangers come alive.

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I keep the drafts of each poem in color-coded folders. I pick up the folders according to how I feel about that color that day.

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I think children have talent and insight, but it gets beaten out of them.

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What writing does is to reveal.

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There are distinct duties of a poet laureate. I plan a reading series at the Library of Congress and advise the librarian. The rest is how I want to promote poetry.

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If we really want to be full and generous in spirit, we have no choice but to trust at some level.

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There are times in life when, instead of complaining, you do something about your complaints.

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To write for PC reasons, because you think you ought to be dealing with this subject, is never going to yield anything that is really going to matter to anyone else. It has to matter to you.

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I have a high guilt quotient. A poem can go through as many as 50 or 60 drafts. It can take from a day to two years-or longer.

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Equality and self-determination should never be divided in the name of religious or ideological fervor.

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For many years, I thought a poem was a whisper overheard, not an aria heard.

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I see a resurgence of interest in poetry. I am less optimistic about the prospects for the arts when it comes to federal funding.

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It makes me furious to hear haters of all skin colors - especially Christian, Jewish, and Muslim fundamentalists - deride other people because of their different beliefs and lifestyles.

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It really wasn't until I was in college when I began to write more and more, and I realized I was scheduling my entire life around my writing.

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What is ironic is that Allen Ginsberg's importance was in its twilight for so many years that it took his death to bring it to the front page. He electrified an entire world!

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When we are touched by something it's as if we're being brushed by an angel's wings.

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Rap is only one end of a whole spectrum of verbal play and virtuosity. Rap is geared for aural pleasure.

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For years, I had heard about the lack of interest in literature in the U.S. and I had complained about it. I failed to understand how people could fail to be moved by art.

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I didn't know writers could be real live people, because I never knew any writers.

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