“It is the privilege of the rich To waste the time of the poor To water with tears in secret A tree that grows in secret That bears fruit in secret That ripened falls to the ground in secret...”
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Work
In 1982 William Bronk won the American Book Award for his book Life Supports: New & Collected Poems. Since then, he has written seven additional books, and Sagetrieb has devoted an entire issue to his work. Bronk is unquestionably a major poet--utterly original, uncompromisingly abstract in content, and deeply sensuous in form. Michael Heller, in The New York Times Book Review, said Bronk's poetry is "singularly persistent in its own investigation of how our deepest truths are those which are most unsayable." This volume spans Bronk's entire career, from his first book Light and Dark, to his most recent Some Words and The Mild Day (Talisman), which the Village Voice praised as "offering epigrammatic style, philosophical reverie, and haiku-like concision." Selected Poems is an indispensable collection, containing the most compelling and the most popular of Bronk's eloquent poems.
Quotes
Showing 1-24 of 58
William Bronk
Canonical work source
“It is the privilege of the rich To waste the time of the poor To water with tears in secret A tree that grows in secret That bears fruit in secret That ripened falls to the ground in secret...”
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“Well, now If little by little you stop loving me I shall stop loving you Little by little If suddenly you forget me Do not look for me For I shall already have forgotten you If you think it...”
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“love is a deeper season than reason; my sweet one”
“One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted — One need not be a House — The Brain has Corridors — surpassing Material Place —”
“Sun benches at the curb bespeak another season, truncated poplars that having served for shade served also later for the fire.”
“I opened my veins. Unstoppably life spurts out with no remedy. Now I set out bowls and plates. Every bowl will be shallow. Every plate will be small. And overflowing their rims, into the bla...”
“Even this late it happens: the coming of love, the coming of light.”
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“REQUIEM Under the wide and starry sky Dig the grave and let me lie: Glad did I live and gladly die, And I laid me down with a will. This be the verse you grave for me: Here he lies where he...”
“Ink runs from the corners of my mouth. There is no happiness like mine. I have been eating poetry.”
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“There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.”
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“I have two enemies in all the world, Two twins, inseparably fused: The hunger of the hungry and the fullness of the full.”
“Love is not love that wounded bleeds And bleeding sullies slow. Come death within my hands and I Unto my love will go.”
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“She died--this was the way she died; And when her breath was done, Took up her simple wardrobe And started for the sun. Her little figure at the gate The angels must have spied, Since I coul...”
“The inkstand is full of ink, and the paper lies white and unspotted, in the round of light thrown by a candle. Puffs of darkness sweep into the corners, and keep rolling through the room beh...”
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“All books are either dreams or swords, You can cut, or you can drug, with words.”
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“Unending Love I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times... In life after life, in age after age, forever. My spellbound heart has made and remade the necklace of songs,...”
“So since I'm still here livin', I guess I will live on. I could've died for love-- But for livin' I was born.”
“The stars are not wanted now: put out every one; Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun; Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood. For nothing now can ever come to any good.”
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“I many times thought peace had come, When peace was far away; As wrecked men deem they sight the land At centre of the sea, And struggle slacker, but to prove, As hopelessly as I, How many t...”
“I am not ready to die, But I am learning to trust death As I have trusted life. I am moving Toward a new freedom”
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“Looks like what drives me crazy Don't have no effect on you-- But I'm gonna keep on at it Till it drives you crazy, too.”
“Away with them, away; we should not believe fairy stories if we wish to be good. Think of them as persons from the fairy wood.”
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“Where to start? Everything cracks and shakes, The air trembles with similes, No one world's better than another; the earth moans with metaphors.”
“Out of love, No regrets-- Though the goodness Be wasted forever. Out of love, No regrets-- Though the return Be never.”