Viv Albertine Quotes

When I write, I write everything from a rhythm point.

A novelist can get by on story, but the poet has nothing but the words.

For purposes of marketing, writers are designated as poets, novelists, or something else. But writing is about matchmaking, an attempt to marry sensations with apt words.

Not all poetry wants to be storytelling. And not all storytelling wants to be poetry. But great storytellers and great poets share something in common: They had something to say, and did.

Writing is more about imagination than anything else. I fell in love with words. I fell in love with storytelling.

I keep trying to define 'poetry,' but it's so difficult.

In the world of words, the imagination is one of the forces of nature.

Journalism is concerned with events, poetry with feelings. Journalism is concerned with the look of the world, poetry with the feel of the world.

Poetry is a special use of language that opens onto the real. The business of the poet is truth telling, which is why in the Celtic tradition no one could be a teacher unless he or she was a poet.

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.

Poets are seen as the caretakers of language, so working with words no matter what the form is what we do.

I'm not a fast, stream-of-consciousness lyricist at all - I know some guys who are, and if there is one skill I wish I had, it's that.

Dancing is the poetry of the foot.

The dance is a poem of which each movement is a word.

I was 15 when I first became deeply touched by the rhythm and structure of words.

Poetry is the elder sister of history, the mother of language, the ancestress of civilization.

The future author is one who discovers that language, the exploration and manipulation of the resources of language, will serve him in winning through to his way.

When I write, I'm talking to myself constantly to make sure that it sounds OK; it has kind of a nice rhythm and a nice jump to it.

I like the idea that songs can communicate in a way no other media can. That's why I write them.

Poems are a form of music, and language just happens to be our instrument - language and breath.

When the public doesn't understand me, it's a battle. So when I choose words, I choose them for their musicality, rhythm, and sense, and I choose the right dialect to express that.

Art, whatever form it takes, requires hard work, craftsmanship and creativity. As a writer, I know my grammar, cadence, the music of prose, and the art of the narrative.

I've learned never to try and force words to come.

Rhythm is the life of space of time danced through.

Have you ever heard a good joke? If you've ever heard someone just right, with the right pacing, then you're already on the way to poetry. It's about using words in very precise ways and using gesture.