Heather Day Gilbert

Author

Classy Quotes Wednesday

On Wednesdays, I want to share some cool quotes with you (posting early this week…still waiting on my new internet service). I find loads of them in the books I read (frequently classics, but sometimes they’re not). Short and sweet…classy quotes. It’s not much…”just a mission statement.” (there’s a little Jerry McGuire quote for ya).


Here’s my first Wednesday quote…let me know what you think of it! I haven’t read many of Koch’s poems, but this quote makes me want to. It’s exactly the way I want to write novels–capturing the heartaches, but offering hope instead of typical postmodern hopelessness.

Kenneth Koch, poet



“I thought, ‘There are a lot of poets who have the courage to look into the abyss, but there are very few who have the courage to look happiness in the face and write about it,’ which is what I wanted to be able to do.”–Kenneth Koch



Comments

  2. Jennifer Major says

    Hey Heather, I don't read a huge amount of poetry. I cannot abide people who want to be so profound and deep that all they do is open the thesaurus and throw up some big words. Gag. But look at his face, that man is happy!I'll have to look him up and see what he wrote.I wonder if he wrote anything about the Amish? ;P

  3. Gabrielle Meyer says

    Great quote. I also want to write this way. Why does the world choose to see the ugly and glorify the evil? I hate watching movies or reading books that focus on garbage – give me hope and healing!

  5. Heather Day Gilbert says

    I know Julie, that's what I thought too. And Jennifer…I do love poetry and have a friend who is an awesome writer of it. You can find her under the guest blogger tab under De Jackson. Her poems are so accessible, therefore so INSPIRATIONAL! If poetry isn't communicating well, it isn't working, in my opinion! And Gabrielle, I think that's our mission as Christian writers. My first novel (unpubbed) had a rather BLEAK ending, but it was done on purpose. As I kick around revamping that novel, I want to inject more HOPE into it. I don't want it to be like The Hunger Games (hee…).And Jessica, I WISH I could goto the ACFW conference this year! I'd love to meet you and lots of my ACFW blogger peeps! Our lives are kind of crazy as we just moved, etc, and don't have the funding for conferences right now. Maybe someday…

  6. debrakristi says

    I love this. I want to feel this way every day. Great quote. I took a tour around your blog. It's beautiful. I've added your RSS feed to my follow list. I look forward to seeing what you post next.