"My mother carried on and supported us; her ambition had been to write poetry and songs." ― Philip Levine Topic(s): Poetry More From Philip Levine "I realized poetry’s the thing that I can do ’cause I can stick at it and work with tremendous intensity." "Meet some people who care about poetry the way you do. You’ll have that readership. Keep going until you know you’re doing work that’s worthy. And then see what happens. That’s my advice." "Now I think poetry will save nothing from oblivion, but I keep writing about the ordinary because for me it’s the home of the extraordinary, the only home." More In Poetry "When you’re going through something, whether it’s a wonderful thing like having a child or a sad thing like losing somebody, you often feel like ‘Oh my God, I’m so overwhelmed; I’m dealing with this huge thing on my own.’ In fact, poetry’s a nice reminder that, no, everybody goes through it. These are universal experiences."― Caroline Kennedy "Poetry is about the grief. Politics is about the grievance."― Robert Frost "I don’t pretend to understand the Universe – it’s a great deal bigger than I am."― Thomas Carlyle