My obsession with time informs my poetry so completely it is hard for me to summarize it. We want time to pass, for new things to happen to us, we want to hold on to certain moments, we dont want our lives to end. – John Barton
I have always been very obsessed with time. Times passage makes us all very vulnerable and because we all experience it in our own way, it can make us feel very alone. – John Barton
Writing can sometimes be exploitative. I like to take a few steps of remove in order to respect the privacy of the subject. If readers make the link, they have engaged with the poem. – John Barton
Poetry is but another form of inquiry into the nature of phenomena, using with its own unique procedures and tools. – John Barton
In the past, poetry came in the form of spells and chants used to effect change. – John Barton
If poetry alters the way in which the reader views the world, then it has had its desired effect. – John Barton
An experienced reader uses the poem as an agent of inquiry. This makes poetry very exciting, unstable, and interactive. – John Barton
No poem is easily grasped so why should any reader expect fast results? – John Barton
Sometimes poetry is inspired by the conversation entered into by reading other poems. – John Barton
