Monday Muse: Poets, Quoted

Below you'll find sourced quotations from recent interviews with poets, as well as a quote from a poet who was a commencement speaker.

✦ "... a poem can be a wellspring for something like joy. Poems can transmutate pain and commit emotional alchemy. A poem can even instill joy by capturing sadness accurately. To see sadness rendered true in a poem and to feel that the essence of your sorrow is real, as stable as numbers, that's a gift an inspired poet can give." ~ Poet Alan Felsenthal (Thora Siemsen, "Poet Alan Felsenthal Brings the Light With Him: The Lowly Author on Joy, Regret and Ghosts", Literary Hub, May 16, 2017)

✦ "My work is always sparked by other people. I never think I can do anything until someone I believe in says, 'Try it'." ~ Poet and Writer Ocean Vuong ("Ocean Vuong on Being Generous in Your Work", The Creative Independent, May 16, 2017)

✦ "Be the people and graduates who always welcome strangers at your door." ~ Poet, Novelist, and Filmmaker Sherman Alexie (Jonathan Glover, "At Gonzaga Commencement, Speaker Sherman Alexie Tells Graduates: Remember Your Promises", The Spokesman Review, May 14, 2017)

✦ "One of my biggest inspirations is thinking about home. . . ." ~ Oklahoma Poet Laureate Jeanetta Calhoun-Mish (Galen Culver, "The Touch Stone for Oklahoma's Newest Poet Laureate Is the Back Roads of Seminole County", Kfor TV, May 15, 2017)

✦ ". . . The great poetry I love holds the mystery of on being alive. It holds it in a kind of basket of words that feels inevitable. . . ." ~ Poet Marie Howe (Krista Tippett, "Marie Howe: The Power of Words to Save Us", On Being, May 4, 2017)

✦ "One learns to write poetry. . . only  through surrender. . . ." ~ Poet Gbenga Adesina (Matthew Thorburn, "'A Poet of the Intimate Spaces': An Interview with Gbenga Adesina", Ploughshares Blog, May 14, 2017)

✦ "I think one grows into trusting one's own voice. . . ." ~ Poet, Essayist, and Playwright Claudia Rankine (Emily Temple, "Claudia Rankine: 'I Think We Need to Be Frightened'", Literary Hub, May 11, 2017)