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"Whereas with poetry no one has to show anybody really, and you don't have to tell anyone you're doing it."
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"Death, like a host, comes smiling to the door;Smiling, he greets us, on that tranquil shoreWhere neither piping bird nor peeping dawnDisturbs the eternal sleep,But in the stillness far withdrawnOur dreamless rest for evermore we keep."

"Poetry. i am not writing it.(make way for me please)it is my skin. dripping with light."

"Poetry involves the mysteries of the irrational perceived through rational words."

"I can write no stately proemAs a prelude to my lay;From a poet to a poemI would dare to say.For if of these fallen petalsOne to you seem fair,Love will waft it till it settlesOn your hair.And when wind and winter hardenAll the loveless land,It will whisper of the garden,You will understand."

"The secret of poetry is never explained - is always new. We have not got farther than mere wonder at the delicacy of the touch, & the eternity it inherits. In every house a child that in mere play utters oracles, & knows not that they are such. 'Tis as easy as breath. 'Tis like this gravity, which holds the Universe together, & none knows what it is."

"I once began to ask around what constitutes a good poem. It felt petty, in a sense. A boy would need no help in deciding which girls he thinks are pretty."

"Rejoice with glitters of ashes tonightSparkling for moon's spiced silver biteUpon skin of darkness, loving night moreStorm begins unlocking cold wind's door."

"A chronic poet should always be an inveterate nature-lover."

"The world of light and starry grace;within your mind I live to trace.Your thought's speed in thunder's glory,lightening my being with dream's story.I embrace the tree carrying your nameYour unspoken wish : the heart of fame."
Explore more quotes by Roger McGough


"If I do a poetry reading I want people to walk out and say they feel better for having been there - not because you've done a comedy performance but because you're talking about your father dying or having young children, things that touch your soul."


"Yes, you can feel very alone as a poet and you sometimes think, is it worth it? Is it worth carrying on? But because there were other poets, you became part of a scene. Even though they were very different writers, it made it easier because you were together."


"We shouldn't have got married, really. Shouldn't have got married. Too young. Not ready for it."


"I was put off by people at school - my cabbage wasn't as good as other people's, you know, so that put me off."


"Whereas with poetry no one has to show anybody really, and you don't have to tell anyone you're doing it."
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