- Birthday, Books, Quotes, Reading, Uncategorized, Writing

“Art hurts. Art urges voyages.”

 

Happy birthday, Gwendolyn Brooks! Here are some quotes from her writing.

“Remember that ART is refining and evocative translation of the materials of the world!”

“When I start writing a poem, I don’t think about models or about what anybody else in the world has done.”

“consider the big fists breaking your little bones,
or consider the vague bureaucrats
stumbling, fumbling through Paper.”

“Say to them,
say to the down-keepers,
the sun-slappers,
the self-soilers,
the harmony-hushers,
‘even if you are not ready for day
it cannot always be night.’
You will be right.”

“A poem doesn’t do everything for you.
You are supposed to go on with your thinking.”

“My Poem is life, and not finished.”

“we are each other’s
harvest:
we are each other’s
business:
we are each other’s
magnitude and bond.”

 

 

  • John Madera is the author of Nervosities (Anti-Oedipus Press, 2024). His other fiction is published in Conjunctions, Salt Hill, The &Now Awards 2: The Best Innovative Writing, and many other journals. His nonfiction is published in American Book Review, Bookforum, The Review of Contemporary Fiction, Rain Taxi: Review of Books, The Believer, The Brooklyn Rail, and many other venues. Recipient of an M.F.A. in Literary Arts from Brown University, New York State Council on the Arts awardee John Madera lives in New York City, Rhizomatic and manages and edits Big Other.

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