“I have piles of poetry books in the bathroom, on the stairs, everywhere. The only way to write poetry is to read it.”
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Auden said poetry makes nothing happen. But I wonder if the opposite could be true. It could make something happen.
I grew up in a bookless house - my parents didn't read poetry, so if I hadn't had the chance to experience it at school I'd never have experienced it. But I loved English, and I was very lucky in that I had inspirational English teachers, Miss Scriven and Mr. Walker, and they liked us to learn poems by heart, which I found I loved doing.
Poetry and prayer are very similar.
I still read Donne, particularly his love poems.