Poetry Quotes

An English poet, Philip Larkin, said that poetry doesn’t start with an idea; it starts with a poem…. You have to be open to the mystery. If you are open to it, mystery will come. If you’re not, why should it, actually?
—Lucille Clifton

I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry; that is, prose—words in their best order; poetry—the best words in their best order.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Like a piece of ice on a hot stove the poem must ride on its own melting.
—Robert Frost