Poet Quotes: Walt Whitman

A morning-glory at my window

satisfies me more

than the metaphysics of books.
Walt Whitman

Poet Quotes: Amiri Baraka

A man is either free or he is not. There cannot be any apprenticeship for freedom.

Amiri Baraka

The Sky is Low.... A Poem by Emily Dickinson

The Sky is Low.... A Poem of Emily Dickinson


"The sky is low, the clouds are mean,
A travelling flake of snow
Across a barn or through a rut
Debates if it will go.

A narrow wind complains all day
How some one treated him;
Nature, like us, is sometimes caught
Without her diadem." Emily Dickinson

Heavy clouds passing by and the Adagio of Sonata BWV 1029 by JS Bach.

Walt Whitman in "L.I.E." Video

Walt Whitman in "L.I.E."


"Demon or bird! (said the boy's soul,)
Is it indeed toward your mate you sing? or is it really to me?
For I, that was a child, my tongue's use sleeping, now I have heard you,
Now in a moment I know what I am for, I awake.

...

Never more the cries of unsatisfied love be absent from me,
Never again leave me to be the peaceful child I was before what
there in the night,
By the sea under the yellow and sagging moon,
The messenger there arous'd, the fire, the sweet hell within,
The unknown want, the destiny of me."

Poet Quotes: Dante Alighieri

Art, as far as it is able,

follows nature, as a pupil imitates his master;

thus your art must be, as it were, God's grandchild.

Dante Alighieri

First Address To The Lord

Lord, guard me against proclivities of lust for things
that I can not have; teach me to see the woman as my
sister, daughter and friend. Check my ambitions and
show me humility in both love and war.

Nurture my most high hopes; to be a husband and a craftsman.
In the hours of darkness, be that light that shines
on me and my dreams. Grant me rest, least I lose my
strength, and dreams become nightmares. Mold me to my true
nature, that of a patient man, waiting until the waiting is done.

Make me a vessel that holds and spreads joy. Grant
me the opportunity for hard work that breaks into sweat.
Allow peace to be my guiding ray, and let me remember
that I never could have made it, without fear of the
common path of death.

Allow me to become stronger, wiser, better all the days
of my life. Forgive me my offenses against the and thy
other children. Wipe their tears and comfort their souls
for this is my prayer.

A Poetry Handbook - Mary Oliver

This slender guide by Mary Oliver deserves a place on the shelves of any budding poet. In clear, accessible prose, Oliver (winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for poetry) arms the reader with an understanding of the technical aspects of poetry writing. Her lessons on sound, line (length, meter, breaks), poetic forms (and lack thereof), tone, imagery, and revision are illustrated by a handful of wonderful poems (too bad Oliver was so modest as to not include her own). What could have been a dry account is infused throughout with Oliver's passion for her subject, which she describes as "a kind of possible love affair between something like the heart (that courageous but also shy factory of emotion) and the learned skills of the conscious mind." One comes away from this volume feeling both empowered and daunted. Writing poetry is good, hard work.

Def Poetry Jam - Alicia Keys - POW

Tears for Water: Songbook of Poems and Lyrics

Click image for info @Amazon.com

Alicia Keys on Def Poetry Jam