There are people who live inside their heads and their intellects. It's something one is born with and stuck with. It's not something you make a decision about.
Charles SimicWe name one thing and then another. Thatโs how time enters poetry. Space, on the other hand, comes into being through the attention we pay to each word. The more intense our attention, the more space, and thereโs a lot of space inside words.
Charles SimicI do believe that a poem needs to remind the reader of his or her own humanity, of what they are, of what they're capable of. Awaken them, in a sense, to the fact that there's a world in front of their eyes, that they have a body, they're going to die, the sky is beautiful, it's fun to be in a grassy field when the sun is shiningโthose kinds of things.
Charles Simic