When you think intensely and beautifully, something happens. That something is called poetry. If you think that way and speak at the same time, poetry gets in your mouth. If people hear you, it gets in their ears. If you think that way and write at the same time, then poetry gets written. But poetry exists in any case. The question is only: are you going to take part, and if so, how?
Robert BringhurstAnxiety projection can and does occur - in myth, in music, in fiction, and in the doctor's office too. That doesn't make it the basis of everything.
Robert BringhurstEvery Native North American text I've ever grappled with has taught me something important about how to live on the continent where I was born.
Robert BringhurstWhen you die, your culture takes you in, and then, if you've given enough, your place is near the centre.
Robert BringhurstMy own view is that violence is a part of classical Haida literature - and of every mythology everywhere, so far as I can tell - because it's part of life itself. In the world of the hamburger stand and the supermarket, or the vegan cafรฉ and the ashram, you might try to tell yourself it's possible to be nonviolent. In a hunting and gathering society, violence is more difficult to hide.
Robert Bringhurst