A poem is a serious joke, a truth that has learned jujitsu.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that poetry balances seriousness with humor, embodying truths that adapt and defend themselves through cleverness.
William Stafford’s quote presents poetry as a unique blend of seriousness and playfulness, akin to a serious joke. In this metaphor, the 'truth' that poetry conveys is compared to jujitsu, which is a martial art that uses an opponent's force against them. This implies that poetry can take weighty truths and maneuver them in ways that make them more accessible or defensible, transforming complex emotions and ideas into something that can be both profound and enjoyable.
In practice
In a discussion about the nature of poetry, one could use this quote to highlight how poems convey deep truths while still engaging the reader's sense of humor.
I keep following this sort of hidden river of my life, you know, whatever the topic or impulse which comes, I follow it along trustingly. And I don't have any sense of its coming to a kind of crescendo, or of its petering out either. It is just going steadily along.
They miss the whisper that runs any day in your mind, "Who are you really, wanderer?"-- and the answer you have to give no matter how dark and cold the world around you is: "Maybe I'm a king.
A speech is something you say so as to distract attention from what you do not say.
The things you do not have to say make you rich. Saying things you do not have to say weakens your talk. Hearing things you do not need to hear dulls your hearing. And things you know before you hear them — those are you, those are why you are in the world.
So, the world happens twice--_x000D_ once what we see it as;_x000D_ second it legends itself_x000D_ deep, the way it is.
The earth says have a place, be what that place_x000D_ requires; hear the sound the birds imply_x000D_ and see as deep as ridges go behind_x000D_ each other.
This is no book. Whoever touches this touches a man.
My work on titles was a marvelous opportunity to learn about filmmaking. I think I touched on just about every aspect of the process, both creative and technical. And I worked with many wonderful people.
The artist must forget the audience, _x000D_ forget the critics, forget the technique, forget everything but love for the music._x000D_ Then, the music speaks through the performance,_x000D_ and the performer and the listener will walk together_x000D_ with the soul of the composer, and with_x000D_ God.
Jazz is the only music in which the same note can be played night after night but differently each time.
I can’t worry too much about the everyday things. Otherwise I’d lose touch with my own world, that helps me as an artist, but it’s frustrating for the people around me. I’m vaguely functional, but there’s always something slightly off.
The more the technocrats programme it down to the smallest detail, the more the powerful manipulate it, football continues to be the art of the unforeseeable. When you least expect it, the impossible occurs: the dwarf teaches the giant a lesson, and a scraggy, bow-legged black man makes an athlete sculpted in Greece look ridiculous.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.