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I do think that poetry is important though, if you don’t strive at it, if you don’t fill it full of stars and falseness.

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when Whitman wrote, “I sing the body electric”I know what hemeantI know what hewanted:to be completely alive every momentin spite of the inevitable.we...more

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there are so many dayswhen living stops and pulls up and sitsand waits like a train on the rails.

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Poetry is what happens when nothing else can.

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when I am feelinglowall i have to do iswatch my catsand mycouragereturns

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Ya got cigarettes?” she asks. “Yes,” I say,“I got cigarettes.” “Matches?” she asks.“Enough to burn Rome.” “Whiskey?”“Enough whiskey for a Mississippi ...more

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that your power of commandwith simple language wasone of the magnificent things ofour century.(from the poem: result)

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Born into thisInto hospitals which are so expensive that it's cheaper to dieInto lawyers who charge so much it's cheaper to plead guiltyInto a country...more

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where some god pissed a rain of reason to make things grow only to die,

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we must bringour own lightto thedarkness.

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If I bet on humanity, I'd never cash a ticket.

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Some people never go crazy. Me, sometimes I'll lie down behind the couch for 3 or 4 days. They'll find me there. It's Cherub, they'll say, and they po...more

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during my worst timeson the park benchesin the jailsor living withwhoresI always had this certaincontentment-I wouldn't call ithappiness-it was more o...more

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I always felt it wouldpass.I listened to the charges against meknowing some of them to be truebut certainly notimportant enoughto become the target of...more

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I often stood in front of the mirror alone, wondering how ugly a person could get.