"To write a poem you must have a streak of arrogance-- not in real life I hope. In real life try to be nice. It will save you a hell of a lot of trouble and give you more time to write."

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#Writing #Real #Nice

Source: The Mayors: The Chicago Political Tradition. Book by Paul Michael Green, Melvin G. Holli, 1995.

About the author

Richard Hugo

Poet, Author

Richard Hugo was an American poet known for his evocative exploration of place and identity, particularly in his influential work, 'The Triggering Town.'

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Richard Hugo Poet, Author

"I will garden on the double run, my rhythm obvious in the ringing rakes, and trust in fate to keep me poor and kind and work until my heart is short, then go out slowly with a feeble grin, my fingers flexing but my eyes gone gray from cramps and the lack of oxygen."

Heart Running Death
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Richard Hugo Poet, Author

"Maximum sentence length: seventeen words. Minimum:one No semicolons. Semicolons indicate relationships that only idiots need defined by punctuation. Besides, they are ugly. Make sure each sentence is at least four words longer or shorter than the one before it."

Needs Four Ugly
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Richard Hugo Poet, Author

"Lucky accidents seldom happen to writers who don't work. You will find that you may rewrite and rewrite a poem and it never seems quite right. Then a much better poem may come rather fast and you wonder why you bothered with all that work on the earlier poem. Actually, the hard work you do on one poem is put in on all poems. The hard work on the first poem is responsible for the sudden ease of the second. If you just sit around waiting for the easy ones, nothing will come. Get to work."

Waiting Hard Work Lucky
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