Writing poems is easy. Writing good poems is difficult. Writing a great poem is almost impossible. This is why I try not to think about it. If I contemplated how many actual great poems there are in the world, and how hard it is to write one, I would give up. I think poets, and artists in general, have to have this combination of audacity and humbleness. On the one hand, you have to have this grand and supreme faith in yourself that what you see, hear, touch, taste, think and feel, has importance, and will be meaningful to another human being. On the other hand, you have to know deep down that what you are trying to do is impossible, unattainable, unfeasible, impractical, out of the question, and completely hopeless. And then you try anyway.
Dorianne Laux, from an interview (via violentwavesofemotion)
