I think what gets a poem going is an initiating line. Sometimes a first line will occur, and it goes nowhere; but other times – and this, I think, is a sense you develop – I can tell that the line wants to continue.
Times
A heart well prepared for adversity in bad times hopes, and in good times fears for a change in fortune.
After I had this idea to be Bill Nye the Science Guy, I wore straight ties the first couple times, and then I got this thing going and I started wearing bow ties.
Friends show their love in times of trouble, not in happiness.
One has to pay dearly for immortality; one has to die several times while one is still alive.
Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.
When you grow up in an extended family, or in a stable neighborhood with two or three generations of families who live there, you feel seen. Not just the good things you’ve done, the stuff you put on your resume. You know they’ve seen you in your dark times, when you’ve messed up – but they’re still there.
I’m not sure that the benefit – as a writer and as a citizen – that I would get from reading at least the front page of the Times every day or every other day would outweigh the depression.
We tried many times before to speed on the social revolution in Spain; attempted to stir up the feelings of the people and to raise the banner of Libertarian Communism.
A sorrow’s crown of sorrow is remembering happier times.