Diane Wakoski Quotes

A collection of quotes by Diane Wakoski.

Diane Wakoski is an American poet and essayist. Born on August 3, 1937, in Whittier, California, Wakoski is known for her confessional style of writing that explores personal experiences and emotions. She gained prominence in the 1960s and 1970s as part of the "deep image" poetry movement.

Wakoski's poetry often delves into themes of love, identity, and self-reflection. She has published numerous collections of poetry, including "Coins and Coffins," "Greed Part 2," and "The Collected Greed, Parts 1-13." Her work has received critical acclaim for its raw and introspective quality.

In addition to her poetry, Wakoski has also published essays and has taught creative writing at various universities, including Michigan State University and California State University, Fresno. She has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors for her contribution to American literature, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and the William Carlos Williams Award.

Throughout her career, Wakoski has been known for pushing boundaries and breaking conventions in her writing. Her innovative style and captivating themes have established her as a significant figure in contemporary American poetry. She continues to write and publish works that resonate with readers, capturing universal emotions while exploring her own personal journey.

I think that's what poetry does. It allows people to come to

I think that's what poetry does. It allows people to come together and identify with a common thing that is outside of themselves, but which they identify with from the interior.

I think I'm a very good reader of poetry, but obviously, lik

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.

I don't like political poetry, and I don't write it. If this

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.

Because, in fact, women, feminists, do read my poetry, and t

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.

American poetry, like American painting, is always personal

American poetry, like American painting, is always personal with an emphasis on the individuality of the poet.

Still, language is resilient, and poetry when it is pressure

Still, language is resilient, and poetry when it is pressured simply goes underground.

But I don't think that poetry is a good, to use a contempora

But I don't think that poetry is a good, to use a contemporary word, venue, for current events.

I think one of the things that language poets are very invol

I think one of the things that language poets are very involved with is getting away from conventional ideas of beauty, because those ideas contain a certain attitude toward women, certain attitudes toward sex, certain attitudes toward race, etc.

I have always wanted what I have now come to call the voice

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.

But I am not political in the current events sense, and I ha

But I am not political in the current events sense, and I have never wanted anyone to read my poetry that way.

I think that great poetry is the most interesting and comple

I think that great poetry is the most interesting and complex use of the poet's language at that point in history, and so it's even more exciting when you read a poet like Yeats, almost 100 years old now, and you think that perhaps no one can really top that.

High and low culture come together in all Post Modern art, a

High and low culture come together in all Post Modern art, and American poetry is not excluded from this.

I'm perfectly happy when I look out at an audience and it's

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.

Distinctly American poetry is usually written in the context

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.

From reading a previous answer, you know that I consider all

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.

I definitely wish to distinguish American poetry from Britis

I definitely wish to distinguish American poetry from British or other English language poetry.

PC stuff just lowers the general acceptance of good work and

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.