"A living poem can energise another poem at five hundred years distance, or across the other side of the world."

Michael Schmidt (poet)Literature See all quotes by Michael Schmidt (poet) →

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“Poetry is a language with a shape”

“In poetry much of the sense and most of the pleasure resides in the sounds the poem make.”

“What matters in poetry is form, how words work together, the sounds and silences their combinations make. The ordered effects they produce on the attentive hearer.”

“We read with our ears”

“Poetry is a collaborative art, and yet—as it is being created—the most solitary and 'individual' of activities.”

“The reader does not need a technical vocabulary to read poetry, only a voice in the head or out loud which can deliver the sounds.”

Resonant Thoughts

"The cemetery of the victims of human cruelty in our century is extended to include yet another vast cemetery, that of the unborn."

— Pope John Paul II

Religion1920–2005

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"As a matter of survival I've created this anti-hero alter-ego, a guy in an ill-fitting suit—part humunculus and part clown. Yep, that's me alright … I could never relate to heroes. I have no interest …"

— Robert Crumb

Art1943

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"The purpose of protecting the life of our Nation and preserving the liberty of our citizens is to pursue the happiness of our people. Our success in that pursuit is the test of our success as a Nation…"

— Lyndon B. Johnson

Politics1908–1973

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— Max Beckmann

Art1884–1950

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