Writing Is Like This -- You Dredge

Poetry Is Ordinary Language Raised To The Nth Power. Poetry Is Boned With Ideas, Nerved And Blooded With Emotions, All Held Together By The Delicate, Tough Skin Of Words.

I Wanted To Write Poetry Almost A Little More Than I Wanted To Eat.

There Must Be An Alternative Between Hollywood And New York, Between Those Two Places Psychically As Well As Geographically. The University Of Iowa Tries To Offer Such A Community, Congenial To The Young Writer, With His Uneasiness About Writing As An Honorable Career, Or With His Excess Of Ego About Calling Himself A Writer.

Our Small Ears Never Had Such A Workout As On The Fourth Of July, Hearing Not Only Our Own Bursting Crackers But Also Those Of Our Friends, And Often The Boom Of Homemade Cannon Shot Off By Daring Boys Of 16 Years, Ready To Lose A Hand If It Blew Up.

Contrary To Slanderous Eastern Opinion, Much Of Iowa Is Not Flat, But Rolling Hills Country With A Lot Of Timber, A Handsome And Imaginative Landscape, Crowded With Constant Small Changes Of Scene And Full Of Little Creeks Winding With Pools Where Shiners, Crappies And Catfish Hover.