"[W]e have to recognize that the thing that looks most flawed, might, in fact, be the most interesting thing in the work. So we’re not looking for the thing that functions best, because to do that is to only reward the most conventional and most familiar moves the work makes. But to try to recognize the thing that excites us the most, or intrigues us the most, which may be something the writer doesn’t even understand." - Peter Turchi

“The feminist act of de-creation is making something that one acknowledges will fail, will decay. The work will not endure.” - Lauren Elkin

“Artists do not seek to imitate form, but to create form; not to imitate life, but to find an equivalent for life.” - Roger Fry

“As I speak, blood is coursing through our bodies. As it moves away from the heart it marches to a 2/4 or a 4/4 beat and it's arterial blood, re-oxygenated, assertive, active, progressive, optimistic. When it reaches our extremities and turns toward home - the heart - well, it's nostalgic, it's venous blood (as in veins), it's tired, wavelike, rising and falling, fighting against gravity and inertia, and it moves to the beat of a waltz, a 3/4 beat, a little off, really homesick now, and full of longing. When we first write our poems, how arterial they seem! And when we go back to them, how venous they seem!” - Mary Ruefle