If only the sun-drenched celebrities are being noticed and worshipped, then our children are going to have a rough time seeing the value in the shadows, where the thinkers, probers and scientists are keeping society together. –Rita Dove
I do think that all of us think in poems. I think of a poem as being deeper than headline news. You know how they talk about breaking news all the time, that–if too much breaking news, trying to absorb all the breaking news, you start feeling really broken. And you need something that takes you to a place that’s a little more timeless, that kind of gives you a place to stand to look out at all these things. Otherwise you just feel assaulted by all the tragedy in the world. –Naomi Shihab Nye
The poet’s job is to put into words those feelings we all have that are so deep, so important, and yet so difficult to name, to tell the truth in such a beautiful way, that people cannot live without it. –Jane Kenyon
When a woman tells the truth she is creating the possibility for more truth around her. –Adrienne Rich
We have a motto at Naropa: “Keep the world safe for poetry.” It’s humorous but has some real bite to it. If the world is safe for poetry, it can be safe for many other things.
–Anne Waldman
In spoken Chinese, everything is gender neutral. There is no she or he. The more I think about this now, the more I like this about the language. Man or woman? Does it matter? A person. –Weike Wang
A long time ago I stopped wondering why there were so many crazy people. What surprises me now is that there are so many sane ones. –Rachel Khong
In our country we call this type of mother love teng ai. My son has told me that in men’s writing it is composed of two characters. The first means pain; the second means love. That is a mother’s love. –Lisa See
It is not an act of bravery to try to save your own village. It is an instinct to protect what you possess. Bravery is when you step in to help when you have nothing to lose. –Gail Tsukiyama
Sometimes you need to scorch everything to the ground and start over. After burning the soil is richer, and new things can grow. People are like that, too. They start over. They find a way. –Celeste Ng
The Gloria Sirens 