"Sometimes poetry is inspired by the conversation entered into by reading other poems." ― John Barton Topic(s): Poetry More From John Barton "An experienced reader uses the poem as an agent of inquiry. This makes poetry very exciting, unstable, and interactive." "Poetry is but another form of inquiry into the nature of phenomena, using with its own unique procedures and tools." "My obsession with time informs my poetry so completely it is hard for me to summarize it. We want time to pass, for new things to happen to us, we want to hold on to certain moments, we don’t want our lives to end." More In Poetry "Probably induced by the asthma, I started reading and writing early on, my literary efforts from the age of about nine running chiefly to poetry and plays."― Patrick White "I’d never really been content with just churning out these slim volumes every three or four years. I’ve always tried to think of poetry as an active ingredient in the language rather than just something that appears between the covers of thin books."― Simon Armitage "Science and art, or by the same token, poetry and prose differ from one another like a journey and an excursion. The purpose of the journey is its goal, the purpose of an excursion is the process."― Franz Grillparzer