I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean. – Socrates

The ugly is in poetry only a passing shadow. – Alexandre Vinet (1797–1847)

Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by reason. – Novalis

So much of my poetry begins with something that I can describe in visual terms, so thinking about distance, thinking about how life begins and what might be watching us. – Tracy K. Smith