Quotes By John Barton
I have been told by a member of the board of one of Canada's most prominent literary magazines that a submission of mine once caused a great deal of controversy.
John Barton
Some readers allow their prejudices to blind them. A good reader knows how to disregard inappropriate responses.
John Barton
An experienced reader uses the poem as an agent of inquiry. This makes poetry very exciting, unstable, and interactive.
John Barton
I became intrigued with colour theory. The absurd pronouncements of the Colour Institute, a group that decides what colours are hot each year or season, amused me.
John Barton
The experiment of the poem is mostly intuitive. I write the first draft, pulling in the various elements that interest me, in the hope that their being combined will lead to some kind of insight.
John Barton
The point of an experiment is not to arrive at a predetermined end point, to prove or disprove anything, but to deliver a poem that reveals much about the process taken.
John Barton
I would not say I chose to write long poems on a conscious level. The long poem has been a relative constant.
John Barton
If poetry alters the way in which the reader views the world, then it has had its desired effect.
John Barton
A literary journal is intended to connect writer with reader; the role of the editor is to mediate.
John Barton
You can never step into the same book twice, because you are different each time you read it.
John Barton
The poet must decide not to impose his feelings in order to write without sentimentality.
John Barton
We are comfortable with the fact that we cannot know personally what happened in the world before we were born, yet we are uncomfortable with the notion that we will stop engaging with time at some point in the future.
John Barton
Poets can't resist the dramatic pull of their lives and so inevitably write autobiographical verse.
John Barton
I sometimes like to tinker with poems that have failed, ones that I have sent aside. Even years afterward, I will revisit them if there is something about them that I cannot give up on.
John Barton
Writing can sometimes be exploitative. I like to take a few steps of remove in order to respect the privacy of the subject. If readers make the link, they have engaged with the poem.
John Barton
I consider a poem to be a kind of experiment where a number of elements are brought together under test conditions to see how they will interact to create meaning or relevance.
John Barton
To me many short poems read and write like beginnings that simply whet my appetite; I want to get over that.
John Barton
I have always been very obsessed with time. Time's passage makes us all very vulnerable and because we all experience it in our own way, it can make us feel very alone.
John Barton
Poets have to be sensitive to their audience, but it does not mean that they censor themselves. I realise my audience is diverse. Some will read with empathy and curiosity while others will take offense.
John Barton
The reader's challenge is to replicate the experiment by reading the poem and to draw their own conclusions.
John Barton
Poetry is but another form of inquiry into the nature of phenomena, using with its own unique procedures and tools.
John Barton
Most victims of my autobiographical verse are either far too polite, remarkably understanding unaware that I have written poems about them.
John Barton