Dennis O'Driscoll Quotes

I would say that poetry for most people is like the Christmas tree that is kept in the attic and is taken down in its appropriate season.

What we call inspiration in poetry is usually a visitation of words and rhythms rather than ideas.

The rhythm of poetry and the routine of work are interdependent for some poets

I am wedded to the notion that Inspiration is the sine que non , the non negotiable prelude to writing a poem.

All poets face the same task to 'follow the prompts' and satisfactorily shape the amorphous sounds, rhythms, images or phrases by which a potential poem is recognised.

Our creative habits are as mysterious to each other as our domestic habits.

Interview, Mark Thwaite, 12th August 2005, 'Ready Steady Books for literature'

I know I am in the grip of a true poem when I can hardly bear to read it calmly at first.

There is no one way 'correct' way of becoming a writer. The very quirks and eccentricities which a workshop will probably discourage may in fact be the aspiring writer's most valuable capital in the longer term. Would be literary Samsons should be wary of enrolling in a hairdressing school.

I put all my poetry in long hand, try to let the idea marinate as long as possible, clinging to the commonplace notion of a creative connection between the movement of the hand and the flow of imagination.

Usually what is termed 'Inspiration' means the ingredients are garnered for you and you must concoct a suitable recipe.

I am completely passive about my poetry, unless I sense the rhythms, see the images and hear the words spontaneously, I am helpless.

Writers are not neccessarily articulate simply because poetry is their stock-in-trade.

The priority for the poet must be his poetry, the poetry must determine his agenda and deadlines

If poets spoke their poetry , they would not need to write it.