David Antin

I hardly remember how I started to write poetry. It's hard to imagine what I thought poetry could do. ↗

— David Antin

#hard #hardly #how #i #imagine

I have spoken to expert audiences occasionally, but then no audience is expert over the whole range of things I want to explore. ↗

— David Antin

#audiences #expert #explore #i #occasionally

I learned enough Hebrew to stagger through a meaningless ceremony that I scarcely remember. ↗

— David Antin

#enough #hebrew #i #learned #meaningless

I reserve the right to tell shaggy dog stories or even common jokes as part of what I'm doing. I don't give a damn if half the audience walks out. ↗

— David Antin

#common #damn #dog #doing #even

I tended to emphasize the secular, the casual, the colloquial, the vernacular against the sacred. ↗

— David Antin

#casual #emphasize #i #sacred #secular

I wanted to be an inventor, whatever I thought that meant then. I guess I was thinking of Edison or maybe James Watt. Or maybe even Newton. ↗

— David Antin

#even #guess #i #inventor #james

I was trying to find out what it was that everybody else understood without giving up my stubborn and hard-won lack of understanding. ↗

— David Antin

#everybody #everybody else #find #giving #giving up

I was very committed to the process of composing, working at poems, putting things together and taking them apart like some kind of experimental filmmaker. ↗

— David Antin

#committed #composing #experimental #filmmaker #i

I'm aware of my audience in a way, and I do try to engage with them while I'm trying to go about my business of thinking. I believe they help me by providing a focus. ↗

— David Antin

#audience #aware #believe #business #engage

I'm not sure what theory is, unless it's the pursuit of fundamental questions. ↗

— David Antin

#fundamental questions #i #pursuit #questions #sure