Dorianne Laux Quotes About Writing

Quotes about: Writing

• Good writing works from a simple premise: your experience is not yours alone, but in some sense a metaphor for everyone's.

  Dorianne Laux

  Writing, Simple, Metaphor

  Kim Addonizio, Dorianne Laux (2010). “The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry”, p.21, W. W. Norton & Company

• Every poem I write falls short in some important way. But I go on trying to write the one that won’t.

  Dorianne Laux

  Fall, Writing, Important

• I don’t worry anymore about writing. There are times that I go through dry periods. I never go through a block. I’m always writing, but there are times where I’m just not on my game, and I’ll use that time to read some new poets, go see some art, walk down to the river and just stare at it, or have a conversation with my sister, or whatever—do whatever it is that I do in my life, hoping that I’ll get filled up enough. And something will happen, some juggling will happen and boom.

  Dorianne Laux

  Art, Block, Writing

• Writing and reading are the only ways to find your voice. It won't magically burst forth in your poems the next time you sit down to write, or the next; but little by little, as you become aware of more choices and begin to make them -- consciously and unconsciously -- your style will develop.

  Dorianne Laux

  Reading, Writing, Voice

  Kim Addonizio, Dorianne Laux (2010). “The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry”, p.116, W. W. Norton & Company

• We aren't suggesting that mental instability or unhappiness makes one a better poet, or a poet at all; and contrary to the romantic notion of the artist suffering for his or her work, we think these writers achieved brilliance in spite of their suffering, not because of it.

  Dorianne Laux

  Writing, Thinking, Artist

  Kim Addonizio, Dorianne Laux (2010). “The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry”, p.58, W. W. Norton & Company

• Someone spoke to me last night,
  told me the truth. Just a few words,
  but I recognized it.
  I knew I should make myself get up,
  write it down, but it was late,
  and I was exhausted from working
  all day in the garden, moving rocks.

  Dorianne Laux

  Moving, Writing, Night

  Dorianne Laux (1994). “What we carry: poems”, BOA Editions Ltd.

• I write to invite the voices in, to watch the angel wrestle, to feel the devil gather on its haunches and rise. I write to hear myself breathing. I write to be doing something while I wait to be called to my appointment with death. I write to be done writing. I write because writing is fun.

  Dorianne Laux

  Fun, Angel, Writing

• Someone spoke to me last night,/ told me the truth. Just a few words,. but I recognized it./ I knew I should make myself get up,/ Write it down, but it was late,/ and I was exhausted from working/ all day in the garden, moving rocks./ Now, I remember only the flavor--/ not like food, sweet or sharp./ More like a fine powder, like dust./ And I wasn't elated or frightened,/ but simply rapt, aware./ That's how it is sometimes--/ God comes to your window,/ all bright light and black wings,/ and you're just too tired to open it.

  Dorianne Laux

  Sweet, Moving, Writing

  Dorianne Laux (1994). “What we carry: poems”, BOA Editions Ltd.

• The reason I started writing was because I was a little kid in San Diego who was getting beaten up by her dad and sexually abused and because I felt different than everybody else and I had this big huge secret that was tearing me apart.

  Dorianne Laux

  Dad, Kids, Writing

  "Road Trip". Interview with Ali Liebegott, logger.believermag.com. April 2, 2013.

• We're all writing out of a wound, and that's where our song comes from. The wound is singing. We're singing back to those who've been wounded.

  Dorianne Laux

  Song, Writing, Singing

  "Road Trip". Interview with Ali Liebegott, logger.believermag.com. April 2, 2013.

• I would say my life experiences are my poetry, whether I'm writing about those actual, factual experiences or not.

  Dorianne Laux

  Writing, Life Experience, Factual

• Joseph [Millar] is much more disciplined than I am. He's up every morning meditating, then he writes, and he reads throughout the day. He probably reads ten books to my two and writes twice as much as I do.

  Dorianne Laux

  Morning, Book, Writing

• We all get habituated, right? You get up in the morning, have your coffee, and read your newspaper, and that’s great. Everybody loves life in its mundane, daily aspects. It’s what makes us feel secure. But I also start to go numb a little bit and I don’t see what’s around me. So I put myself in a new situation and suddenly I’m really seeing the person next to me, hearing music, and I’m smelling, and I can’t help but want to write it down.

  Dorianne Laux

  Morning, Coffee, Writing

• W.S Merwin says "after three days of rain" and I write "After Twelve Days of Rain." I like his quietude. I admire his ability to be simple without being simplistic.

  Dorianne Laux

  Rain, Writing, Simple

• There is so much about the process of writing that is mysterious to me, but this one thing I've found to be true: writing begets writing.

  Dorianne Laux

  Writing, Mysterious, Process

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