If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards that would have gotten you labeled a radical 60 years ago a liberal 30 years ago and a racist today.
That's the way it is with poetry: When it is incomprehensible it seems profound and when you understand it it is only ridiculous.
And how can poetry stand up against its new conditions? Its position is perfectly precarious.
Conventional wisdom notwithstanding there is no reason either in football or in poetry why the two should not meet in a man's life if he has the weight and cares about the words.
My old teacher's definition of poetry is an attempt to understand.
The more poetry you have in the head the more poetry you will understand because you will be getting to the roots of what it is that makes people write poetry at all.
They need to learn poetry. They don't need to learn about poetry. They don't need to be told how to interpret poetry. They don't need to be told how to understand poetry. They need to learn it.
Poetry should be able to reach everybody and it should be able to appeal to all levels of understanding.
Dealing with poetry is a daunting task simply because the reason one does it as an editor at all is because one is constantly coming to terms with one's own understanding of how to understand the world.
This proves that great lyric poetry can die be reborn die again but will always remain one of the most outstanding creations of the human soul.
It's like I understand images and some people understand poetry.
I was trained as an actress. But I wasn't a very convincing actress so I started doing punk poetry and then fell into doing stand-up.
The biggest problem is people are afraid of poetry think they can't understand it or that it will be boring.
I've written some poetry I don't understand myself.
A poem can have an impact but you can't expect an audience to understand all the nuances.
Even when poetry has a meaning as it usually has it may be inadvisable to draw it out... Perfect understanding will sometimes almost extinguish pleasure.
Pet lovers know that animals sometimes understand us better than we do and the annals of human sin and desire provide plenty of stories to drive the point home.
A lover tries to stand in well with the pet dog of the house.
Never stand between a dog and the hydrant.
I came here as a practical man to talk not simply on the question of peace and war but to treat another question which is of hardly less importance - the enormous and burdensome standing armaments which it is the practice of modern Governments to sustain in time of peace.
The secret of living in peace with all people lies in the art of understanding each one by his own individuality.
Well I think by any expectation South Africa has come a tremendously long way. We've seen a society that many people thought couldn't withstand a peaceful transition to democracy without a great deal of violence in fact make that transition and do it in relative peace and security.
The Peace Corps is an outstanding organization that promotes peace through helping countless individuals who want to help build a better life for the community in which they serve.
Standing as I believe the United States stands for humanity and civilization we should exercise every influence of our great country to put a stop to that war which is now raging in Cuba and give to that island once more peace liberty and independence.