It is inhuman to bless where one is cursed.
It's not surprising to me that books ended up playing a central role in my life, but it is somewhat mysterious that poetry did.
The shape that poems make in the mind is an echo of something powerful in the cosmos. I do believe that, and that is certainly irrational, so perhaps I am no wiser than Elizabeth Perkins as to the nature of poetry.
People who publish poetry today do it from a sense that poetry needs to be published, not because they think they are going to make money.
Poetry resonates differently in each culture; it doesn't in America.
I like each of my books to be different. Once I've done something I like to move on and push myself to learn new things and expand the limits of poetic form.
All of the arts are kin - music and sculpture and dance, those are wordless art forms. But poetry is defined by language. Of course, each art is distinct, and has its own character - not just in terms of media, but in terms of what seems to lie at the heart of it.
My practise as a scientist is atheistic. That is to say, when I set up an experiment I assume that no god, angel, or devil is going to interfere with its course; and this assumption has been justified by such success as I have achieved in my professional career. I should therefore be intellectually dishonest if I were not also atheistic in the affairs of the world. And I should be a coward if I did not state my theoretical views in public.
The instant they say something you don't expect or already know, you should drop into detective mode.
When we pursue kingdom principles above His presence, we are looking for the kingdom without a king.
There is one order of beauty which seems made to turn heads. It is a beauty like that of kittens, or very small downy ducks making gentle rippling noises with their soft bills, or babies just beginning to toddle.