Theodore Roethke

Poems that praise God must create the belief that God believes in the writer of the poem.

It is hard to be both plain and direct and not appear a fool to contemporaries fed on allusions, sibylline coziness, hints and shadows.

Perhaps no person can be a poet, or enjoy poetry, without [an] unsoundness of mind.

The poet: would rather eat a heart than a hambone.

Live in perpetual, great astonishment.

Beware when you think you have found what you want.

— “The Poet’s Business”