Various Quotes From On Poetry And Craft: Selected Prose Of Theodore Roethke

The poem, even a short time after being written,
seems no miracle; unwritten, it seems
something beyond the capacity of the gods.

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Art is the means we have of undoing the damage of
haste. It's what everything else isn't.

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You can't make poetry simply by avoiding clichés.

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There's a point where plainness is no longer a virtue,
when it becomes excessively bald, wrenched.

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You must believe: a poem is a holy thing -- a good poem,
that is.