Poetry is breath set to rhythm — what we can’t quite say until music helps the words arrive. As Maya Angelou reminds us: “Poetry is music written for the human voice.”💫

“For women, then, poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence.” ~ Audre Lorde

“A vein of poetry exists in the hearts of all men.” ~ Thomas Carlyle

“I pulled a book by Robinson Jeffers off the shelf one day. It was powerfully moving. Tears ran down my face. That's when I became a poet.” ~ William Everson

“Any time is the time to make a poem.” ~ Gertrude Stein

“We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion.” ~ Robin Williams

“We all scribble poetry.” ~ Homer

“The genius of poetry must work out its own salvation in a man; it cannot be matured by law and precept, but by sensation and watchfulness in itself. That which is creative must create itself.” ~ John Keats

“There are two ways of disliking poetry: one way is to dislike it; the other is to read Pope.” ~ Oscar Wilde

“The poet speaks adequately only when he speaks somewhat wildly — not with intellect alone, but with intellect inebriated by nectar.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Poetry is to prose as walking is to dancing.” ~ John Wain

“With me poetry has not been a purpose, but a passion.” ~ Edgar Allan Poe

“The purpose of poetry is to make life complete in itself.” ~ Wallace Stevens

“A poet’s job is to find a name for everything: to be a fearless finder of the names of things.” ~ Jane Kenyon

“God is the perfect poet.” ~ Robert Browning

“Ultimately I have learned more about poetry / from music and magic than from literature.” ~ James Broughton

“And all poets love dust and mist because all the last answers / go running back to dust and mist.” ~ Carl Sandburg

“You can't write poetry on the computer.” ~ Quentin Tarantino