Deep feeling doesn't make for good poetry. A way with language would be a bit of help. Thom Gunn
My old teacher's definition of poetry is an attempt to understand. Thom Gunn
There have been two popular subjects for poetry in the last few decades: the Vietnam War and AIDS, about both of which almost all of us have felt deeply. Thom Gunn
And I know I'm supposed to feel guilty for wanting people to buy my books... and books in general? Novels and poetry, they belong to the realm of art. How dirty of us to try to hawk art! But, after a decade of hand-wringing and apologies, I can't quite muster the guilt anymore. Julianna Baggott
American poetry, like American painting, is always personal with an emphasis on the individuality of the poet. Diane Wakoski
But I am not political in the current events sense, and I have never wanted anyone to read my poetry that way. Diane Wakoski
But I don't think that poetry is a good, to use a contemporary word, venue, for current events. Diane Wakoski
High and low culture come together in all Post Modern art, and American poetry is not excluded from this. Diane Wakoski
I definitely wish to distinguish American poetry from British or other English language poetry. Diane Wakoski
Still, language is resilient, and poetry when it is pressured simply goes underground. Diane Wakoski
Because, in fact, women, feminists, do read my poetry, and they read it often with the power of their political interpretation. I don't care that's what poetry is supposed to do. Diane Wakoski
I'm perfectly happy when I look out at an audience and it's all women. I always think it's kind of odd, but then, more women than men, I think, read and write poetry. Diane Wakoski
PC stuff just lowers the general acceptance of good work and replaces it with bogus poetry that celebrates values that in themselves are probably quite worthy. Diane Wakoski
Distinctly American poetry is usually written in the context of one's geographic landscape, sometimes out of one's cultural myths, and often with reference to gender and race or ethnic origins. Diane Wakoski
From reading a previous answer, you know that I consider all those aspects to be part of American cultural myth and thus they figure into good American poetry, whether the poet is aware of what he is doing or not. Diane Wakoski
I don't like political poetry, and I don't write it. If this question was pointing towards that, I think it is missing the point of the American tradition, which is always apolitical, even when the poetry comes out of politically active writers. Diane Wakoski
I have always wanted what I have now come to call the voice of personal narrative. That has always been the appealing voice in poetry. It started for me lyrically in Shakespeare's sonnets. Diane Wakoski
I think I'm a very good reader of poetry, but obviously, like everybody, I have a set of criteria for reading poems, and I'm not shy about presenting them, so if people ask for my critical response to a poem, I tell them what works and why, and what doesn't work and why. Diane Wakoski