The whole point of writing poetry or fiction is that you get to agonize over whatever it is you want to say, and you finally say it, and you get it as perfect as you can make it. Then you're forced to babble freestyle.
Nick LairdThat's what Samuel Johnson said: "Read over your compositions, and wherever you meet with a passage which you think particularly fine, strike it out."
Nick LairdA huge portion of Trump voters are incredibly pleased with how he's performing. They see what they want to see.
Nick LairdShe was privileged enough to feel at home anywhere, and to equate squalor with authenticity.
Nick LairdIn terms of poetry, I worry about being far from the voice of my childhood, the rhythms of Ulster speech, and the liveliness of its dialect. I know there is a vitality to New York talk, but living among people of different cultures does mean you're forced to homogenize and lose the interesting words and phrases in order to be understood.
Nick Laird