Poetry is an orphan of silence. The words never quite equal the experience behind them.
Charles SimicThe stars know everything, So we try to read their minds. As distant as they are, We choose to whisper in their presence.
Charles SimicI left parts of myself everywhere, The way absent-minded people leave Gloves and umbrellas Whose colors are sad from dispensing so much bad luck
Charles SimicHere in the United States, we speak with reverence of authentic experience. We write poems about our daddies taking us fishing and breaking our hearts by making us throw the little fish back into the river. We even tell the reader the kind of car we were driving, the year and the model, to give the impression that itโs all true. Itโs because we think of ourselves as journalists of a kind. Like them, weโll go anywhere for a story. Donโt believe a word of it. As any poet can tell you, one often sees better with eyes closed than with eyes wide open.
Charles Simic