Sarah Kay
Sarah Kay
Sarah Kay is a professor of French at New York University...
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth19 June 1988
CityNew York City, NY
art hands people
Ever since I was little, I've loved making hand-made cards and presents and arts & crafts for people.
color people world
Most days it feels as if the world is whirling around me and I am standing still. In slow motion, I watch the colors blur; people and faces all become a massive wash.
daughter hands should-have
If I should have a daughter… I’m gonna paint the solar system on the backs of her hands so she has to learn the entire universe before she can say ‘oh I know that like the back of my hand.
school expression high-school
Ever hear that expression, "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times"? That's what high school was like for me. Both of those - all the time.
mistake night decision
Forgive yourself for the decisions you have made, the ones you still call mistakes when you tuck them in at night
writing focus sorrow
I have always thought of poetry as an act of celebration. Just by nature of writing a poem you are taking the time to dwell on whatever it is that you're writing about...you can be celebrating anger, you can be celebrating sorrow... you are spending the time to focus and observe and try to understand the various parts of being human.
apology excuse metaphor
You are not made of metaphors, Not apologies, not excuses.
thinking where-you-live matter
I think there is a human instinct to tell stories, no matter who you are or where you live.
phones space phone-calls
You can only fit so many words in a postcard, only so many in a phone call, only so many into space before you forget that words are sometimes used for things other than filling emptiness.
hands mind
Hands learn more than minds do, hands learn how to hold other hands...
book thinking people
I love books that create worlds for me that I don't want to leave. I recently lost my entire life to Haruki Murakami - 1Q84. I tell people that book ruined my life in the best possible way. I couldn't think of anything else for weeks after I read it.
beautiful prayer zippers
Fingers interlocked like a beautiful accordion of flesh or a zipper of prayer
block writing thinking
I often tell people to stop being afraid of writing bad poetry, or bad anything. I think that a lot of times, when people claim that they have writer's block, or that they get stuck, it's just because they're scared of writing bad things.
important done may
Poetry is like pooping. If there is a poem inside of you, it has to come out. Sometimes it can be really difficult and take longer than you'd like (it may even be painful), but other times it can be really easy and happen much faster than you expected. But either way - it is important, and it feels so much better when it's done.