James Tate
James Tate
James Vincent Tatewas an American poet whose work earned him the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He was a professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth8 December 1943
CountryUnited States of America
best both break funny love rather
I love my funny poems, but I'd rather break your heart. And if I can do both in the same poem, that's the best.
good start
When you don't sleep, you start to hallucinate, and that's not good.
bowl city detroit intelligence intelligence-and-intellectuals specific super threats
We monitored intelligence reports. There were no specific threats to the city of Detroit or any Super Bowl venue.
believed operator playing
The operator may have believed he was playing on the phone.
dog neighbors protective saying
Neighbors were saying that dog was very protective of the woman. For some reason, it snapped.
challenges ordinary ultimate
The challenge is always to find the ultimate in the ordinary horseshit.
should persona
Something should always change in a poem. The persona should learn something.
book heart adventure
William Waltz will take me through 'the buzz and clamor in a forest of hearts.' Adventures in the Lost Interiors of America is an adventure, I will go on this adventure with Waltz as a skillful, faithful, compass-true guide. I love this book.
book humility writing
In You Are Not Dead Wendy Xu breaks all the old rules that have never done us any favors anyway. She writes beautifully, noticing who we are, and letting us see ourselves with a little more humanity, a little more humor, a little more humility. I'm happy to have read this book.
editing reading-poetry needs
Poetry is everywhere; it just needs editing.
catch
We want to catch the person who did this. We've got to get that person off the streets.
turn
We did make a turn for the better at some point.
cross figured sitting
I was just sitting on my bed in a dormitory room, and I started writing. The thing that was magic about it was that once you put down one word, you could cross it out. I figured that out right away. I put down 'mountain,' and then I'd go, 'No - 'valley.' That's better.'
entirely frivolous grows love seemingly stake starts until
I can't know entirely what's at stake beforehand; you find out as you go. I love to take a poem, for instance, that starts with something seemingly frivolous or inconsequential and then grows in gravity until by the end it's something very serious.