Such a small, pure object a poem could be, made of nothing but air a tiny string of letters, maybe small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. But it could blow everybody's head off.
Mary KarrI always say that a poet loves the world, and the prose writer needs to create an alternative world.
Mary KarrHaving a great dad probably permitted me to pal around with guys in a way that some women don't.
Mary KarrI tell people not to write too soon about their lives. Writing about yourself too young is loaded with psychological complexities.
Mary KarrI kept the fingers of my left hand crossed all the time, while on my right-hand fingers I counted anything at all—steps to the refrigerator, seconds on the clock, words in a sentence—to keep my head occupied. The counting felt like something to hang on to, as if finding the right numbers might somehow crack the code on whatever system ran the slippery universe we were moving through.
Mary Karr