I spend a lot of time revising. I'm not somebody who can move slowly. Martha Ronk More Quotes by Martha Ronk More Quotes From Martha Ronk I can't remember the past, or I can't see very clearly, or I've gotten older and the person I was isn't there anymore, and the place I grew up isn't where I live now. Martha Ronk grew-up remember past I can't move my body slowly. I can't move the line slowly. So I end up with way too much, often opaque to me later. Martha Ronk opaque body moving I know that in some ways I operate from a kind of antiquated interest in imagery, while many contemporary poets are not so interested in imagery. I think part of it is my training, and just my visual sense of things. Martha Ronk training way thinking One of the reasons I like immersing myself in different texts, putting myself in the company of other writers, is that they do change your vocabulary. They change what you write about or they change the length of lines. Martha Ronk vocabulary different writing Each of us is present, but partially. Martha Ronk I think about the kinds of gardens that Queen Elizabeth put up. She made gardens in the shape of an "E," for Elizabeth, just one more way in which she used symbolism to solidify her reign: appearing as the Virgin Queen, for example, or wearing a dress embroidered with eyes and ears to indicate that she knew all that was going on in her castle; she had spies. Martha Ronk garden queens eye For me, failure has to be acknowledged, needs to be faced in some way. Martha Ronk way needs I'm really interested in what you remember, how you remember, what your perspective is as opposed to somebody else's. Martha Ronk perspective remember Looking out a window from different vantage points changes what you see and therefore what you write. Martha Ronk vantage-point different writing I'm in California, so I know people who are natives who tell me there's lots of weather here, but it's not the same as being in Vermont. Since I grew up on the East Coast I miss that weather all the time. You'd think I'd get used to not having it, but I don't. Martha Ronk california weather thinking Often poets fall into groups that exclude others, and don't pay attention to those who write in different ways. It seems so limited to me. Martha Ronk groups writing fall I want literature to open all the doors that I can't open by myself, and to allow me to see things that I wouldn't otherwise see. Martha Ronk literature want doors I try to attach myself to things around me so that they don't slip away. Martha Ronk slips trying I think those of us who use language are always trying for this, trying to keep everything from floating away by trying to write about it despite failure. Martha Ronk always-trying writing thinking One of the things I've always thought is that if I were to write a poetics, it would have to do with the poetics of failure, and the way in which all the things that you claim or that you try for are already based on the limits of language. Martha Ronk writing trying way Language is as fragile as the little alpine plant. Martha Ronk plant language littles You can get a sense of the wonderful power of framing by holding your fingers up in a kind of square, walking around the room and framing it differently - how that changes the nature of what you think the room is like. Martha Ronk squares rooms thinking The days start to be charged not because tomorrow you're leaving, but because in three weeks you're leaving. The future impinges. So you start to think about the frame. Martha Ronk leaving three thinking I prefer always to think that I am creating a book, not a series of stand-alone poems. Martha Ronk creating book thinking Shakespeare, of course, makes us ever aware of transience, not only in the sonnets, but also powerfully in his plays - spectacles for a brief period of time and then gone, as when Prospero describes the pageant fading, leaving "not a rack behind." Martha Ronk leaving gone play
