Mark Strand

“In a field I am the absence of field. This is always the case. Wherever I am I am what is missing.”

“When we walk in the sun our shadows are like barges of silence.”

“I think the best American poetry is the poetry that utilizes the resources of poetry rather than exploits the defects or triumphs of the poet's personality.”

“Poetry is, first and last, language - the rest is filler.”

“Pain is filtered in a poem so that it becomes finally, in the end, pleasure.”

“The Coming of Light Even this late it happens: the coming of love, the coming of light. You wake and the candles are lit as if by themselves, stars gather, dreams pour into your pillows, sending up warm bouquets of air. Even this late the bones of the body shine and tomorrow’s dust flares into breat...”