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"Writing can sometimes be exploitative. I like to take a few steps of remove in order to respect the privacy of the subject. If readers make the link, they have engaged with the poem."
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Exlpore more Art quotes
"Photograph: a picture painted by the sun without instruction in art."
"The capacity to be puzzled is the premise of all creation, be it in art or in science."
"I see my life in terms of music."
"Logic: The art of thinking and reasoning in strict accordance with the limitations and incapacities of the human misunderstanding."
"It is impossible to give a clear account of the world, but art can teach us to reproduce it-just as the world reproduces itself in the course of its eternal gyrations. The primordial sea indefatigably repeats the same words and casts up the same astonished beings on the same sea-shore."
"Few artists thrive in solitude and nothing is more stimulating than the conflict of minds with similar interests."
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Explore more quotes by John Barton
"If poetry alters the way in which the reader views the world, then it has had its desired effect."
"I consider a poem to be a kind of experiment where a number of elements are brought together under test conditions to see how they will interact to create meaning or relevance."
"The poet must decide not to impose his feelings in order to write without sentimentality."
"Some readers allow their prejudices to blind them. A good reader knows how to disregard inappropriate responses."
"The experiment of the poem is mostly intuitive. I write the first draft, pulling in the various elements that interest me, in the hope that their being combined will lead to some kind of insight."
"The community of poets I belong to is not as close as it used to be, if only for the fact that our lives have become busier: jobs, children, and the like."
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