247 POETS ABOUT POETRY
Friday, October 30, 2026
CAREL STEVEN ADAMA VAN SCHELTEMA
A poem should be a piece of music made of words and thoughts, that can be felt and understood by as many of our fellow humans as possible.
Also see:
Frozen poets - Sculptures, graves and other traces of poets
Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars
Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry
www.alberthagenaars.nl
Tuesday, October 13, 2026
ANATOLE FRANCE
Poetry must emerge from life in just as natural a way as trees, flowers, and fruits come from the earth, from the rich earth, in full view of the sky.
Also see:
Frozen poets - Sculptures, graves and other traces of poets
Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars
Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry
www.alberthagenaars.nl
Friday, September 18, 2026
Thursday, September 10, 2026
MAARTEN EMBRECHTS
Poetry isn’t a profession / It’s not knitting // It might be a mistress.
Also see:
Frozen poets - Sculptures, graves and other traces of poets
Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars
Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry
www.alberthagenaars.nl
RICHARD HUGO
Often, a place that starts a poem for me is one I have only glimpsed while passing through. It should make impression enough that I can see things in the town-the water tower, the bank, the last movie announced on the marquee before the theater shut down for good, the closed hotel-long after I've left. Sometimes these are imagined things I find if I go back, but real or imagined, they act as a set of stable knowns that sit outside the poem. They and the town serve as a base of operations for the poem. Sometimes they serve as a stage setting. I would never try to locate a serious poem in a place where physical evidence suggests that the people there find it relatively easy to accept themselves-say the new Hilton. The poet's relation to the triggering subject should never be as strong as (must be weaker than) his relation to his words. The words should not serve the subject. The subject should serve the words. This may mean violating the facts. For example, if the poem needs the word "black" at some point and the grain elevator is yellow, the grain elevator may have to be black in the poem. You owe reality nothing and the truth about your feelings everything.
Also see:
Frozen poets - Sculptures, graves and other traces of poets
Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars
Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry
www.alberthagenaars.nl
Wednesday, August 19, 2026
WILLY SPILLEBEEN
I've actually always wanted to write the perfect poem, but I realized pretty quickly that I always had to start over, and maybe that's why I've written quite a lot of poetry.
Also see:
Frozen poets - Sculptures, graves and other traces of poets
Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars
Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry
www.alberthagenaars.nl
VICTOR HUGO
When I say I, I am talking about all of you, unhappy ones.
Also see:
Frozen poets - Sculptures, graves and other traces of poets
Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars
Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry
www.alberthagenaars.nl
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