Artists are not cheerleaders, and we're not the heads of tourism boards. We expose and discuss what is problematic, what is contradictory, what is hurtful and what is silenced in the culture we're in.
Junot DiazRead
Personally I always feel like I could use a little more of poetry apothegmatic power in my own work but we're always lacking something.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses a longing for more poetic expression in one's own work, highlighting the idea that creativity often feels incomplete.
Junot Diaz reflects on the notion that every creator feels a gap in their work, a sense of lacking something essential. He suggests that the eloquence and depth found in poetry is a powerful tool that he wishes to incorporate more into his own creative endeavors, indicating that the journey of creation is often accompanied by the feeling of incompleteness or inadequacy.
Themes
PoetryCreativityExpressionPowerWorkInspiration
In practice
Example use cases
In a writing workshop, I shared this quote to emphasize the importance of striving for poetic expression in our drafts.
More from Junot Diaz
All quotes βRun a hand through your hair, like the white boys do, even though the only thing that runs easily through your hair is Africa.
Junot DiazRead
I can see myself watching him shave every morning. And at other time I see us in that house and see how one bright day (or a day like this, so cold your mind shifts every time the wind does) he will wake up and decide it's all wrong. I'm sorry, he'll say. I have to leave now.
Junot DiazRead
Migration gives a blank cheque to put anything you don't feel like addressing in the memory hold. No neighbours can go against the monster narrative of your family.
Junot DiazRead
We all dream dreams of unity, of purity; we all dream that there's an authoritative voice out there that will explain things, including ourselves.
Junot DiazRead
I think 90% of my ideas evaporate because I have a terrible memory and because I seem to be committed to not scribble anything down. As soon as I write it down, my mind rejects it.
Junot DiazRead
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