A poem employs both the sound and the sense of language, it treats words not just as signifiers but as a plastic medium of artistic expression.
Campbell McGrathThe shape that poems make in the mind is an echo of something powerful in the cosmos. I do believe that, and that is certainly irrational, so perhaps I am no wiser than Elizabeth Perkins as to the nature of poetry.
Campbell McGrathIt's not surprising to me that books ended up playing a central role in my life, but it is somewhat mysterious that poetry did.
Campbell McGrathAll of the arts are kin - music and sculpture and dance, those are wordless art forms. But poetry is defined by language. Of course, each art is distinct, and has its own character - not just in terms of media, but in terms of what seems to lie at the heart of it.
Campbell McGrath