I dislike literary jargon and never use it. Criticism has only one function and that is to help readers read and understand literature. It is not a science, it is an aid to art. – Anne Stevenson
Poets should ignore most criticism and get on with making poetry. – Anne Stevenson
I dont like poetry that just slaps violent words on a canvas, as it were. – Anne Stevenson
A poem might be defined as thinking about feelings – about human feelings and frailties. – Anne Stevenson
It is rare indeed that people give. Most people guard and keep; they suppose that it is they themselves and what they identify with themselves that they are guarding and keeping, whereas what they are actually guarding and keeping is their system of reality and what they assume themselves to be. – James Baldwin