History is one of those marvelous and necessary illusions we have to deal with. Its one of the ways of dealing with our world with impossible generalities which we couldnt live without. – Howard Nemerov
Ive never read a political poem thats accomplished anything. Poetry makes things happen, but rarely what the poet wants. – Howard Nemerov
I do insist on making what I hope is sense so theres always a coherent narrative or argument that the reader can follow. – Howard Nemerov
I think there was a revolution in poetry, associated chiefly with Eliot and Pound but maybe it is of the nature of revolutions or of the nature of history that their innovations should later come to look trivial or indistinguishable from technical tricks. – Howard Nemerov