make it true

The pure adventurousness of making metaphors and poems is a condition that must be felt to be believed. I remember how tremendously excited I was when I first formulated to myself the proposition that the poet is not to be limited by the literal truth: that he is not trying to tell the truth: he is trying to make it.

—James Dickey, “Metaphor as Pure Adventure,” Sorties (Louisiana State Univ. Press, 1971), p. 179

like bread

Poetry, like bread, is for everyone.

—Roque Dalton,“Like You”

truth aslant

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant—

—Emily Dickinson, first line of #1129

said with ease

As if the language suddenly, with ease,
Said things it had laboriously spoken.

—Wallace Stevens, from “Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction”