Author: wildsoundwritingfestival

When a poem is really finished, you can’t change anything. You can’t move words around. You can’t say, ‘In other words, you mean.’ No, that’s not it. There are no other words in which you mean it. This is it. W. S. Merwin, poet via “When a poem is really finished, you can’t change anything. You… Continue reading “When a poem is really finished, you can’t change anything. You can’t move words around. You can’t… “ — Art of Quotation

Society takes what it wants. The artist himself does not count, because there is no actual existence for the work of art. The work of art is always based on the two poles of the onlooker and the maker, and the spark that comes from the bipolar action gives birth to something – like electricity. […]… Continue reading “…it is always posterity that makes the masterpiece.” — Art of Quotation

With Donald Trump’s election, I knew I could not remain silent. I in no way considered myself an activist. But in January 2017, just after the inauguration, I opened my computer and worked late into the night setting up a nonpartisan Facebook group for myself and a few like-minded friends. I wanted to create a […]… Continue reading “We will not be complicit by being complacent” — Art of Quotation

There exists, for everyone, a sentence – a series of words – that has the power to destroy you. Another sentence exists, another series of words, that could heal you. If you’re lucky you will get the second, but you can be certain of getting the first. Philip K. Dick via ”There exists, for everyone, a… Continue reading ”There exists, for everyone, a sentence… that has the power to destroy you. Another sentence exists… that could heal you. If you’re lucky you will get…” — Art of Quotation

Seeing the world anew, as if it were new, is as old as writing. It’s what all painters are trying to do, to see what’s there, to see it in a way that renews it. It becomes more and more urgent as the planet gets worn flat and forest after forest is slain to print […]… Continue reading “As the planet gets progressively less innocent, you need a more innocent eye to see it.” — Art of Quotation

A record … is a statement, it’s its own statement, its own entity, rather than being about something else. If I was a painter … I don’t paint the chair, I would paint feelings about the chair. Bob Dylan, poet via “If I was a painter … I don’t paint the chair, I would paint feelings… Continue reading “If I was a painter … I don’t paint the chair, I would paint feelings about the chair.” — Art of Quotation

“The camera gave me an incredible freedom. It gave me the ability to parade through the world and look at people and things very, very closely.” Carrie Mae Weems, photographer via “The camera gave me an incredible freedom. It gave me the ability to parade through the world and look at people and things very, very… Continue reading “The camera gave me an incredible freedom. It gave me the ability to parade through the world and look at people and things very, very closely.” — Art of Quotation

Writers are tinkers. By which I mean, they tinker with their words like they are inventors at a workshop table, adjusting and fiddling, trying to get the result right. I thought I would provide an example of this tinkering process. Recently, I started exploring other writing forms…the ones that aren’t novels. I got into poetry […]… Continue reading Editing In Action — Busy Writing

You walk into an overpriced café; the sort of place where you ask for milk and they look at you like you’ve requested the blood of their first born child in a cup with two sugars. You order a flat white because it’s trendy and comes with milk in it so they can’t say anything. […]… Continue reading Where Have All The Commas Gone? by Chris Wright — The Fiction Pool

Off in the distance, calling my name, Is the river near whom sorrow came, Silver and gold, to have and to hold, The sheep is lost from the sacred fold. Wandering and crying, sinning and dying, What is this force with whom we are fighting? Stronger than iron, yet under a spell, Be careful lest […]… Continue reading Read Poem: After Eden’s Grave, by Maggie Bryan — POETRY FESTIVAL. Submit to site for FREE. Submit for actor performance. Submit poem to be made into film.