How does the poet transform his banal thoughts (are not most thoughts banal?) into such stunning forms, into beauty?
quote by Joyce Carol Oates

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Related quotes
Stunning Beauty
Stunning beauty, stunning beauty,
You're my lil cutie.
Stunning beauty, stunning beauty
I love how you make me go mutey.
Stunning beauty, stunning beauty,
You're like crystal shiny and bold yet you don't let anyone control.
I think of you when I'm cold,
You stole somethin of mine,
But I see your just making it shine,
and beat to your voice,
I guess it your choice,
So will you please hear my voice? & don't forget nobody will ever replace you my lil cutie. So what will it be stunning beauty? '
-Eric Danladi Garner Jr.
poem by Eric Garner

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Nothing is quite so wretchedly corrupt as an aristocracy which has lost its power but kept its wealth and which still has endless leisure to devote to nothing but banal enjoyments. All its great thoughts and passionate energy are things of the past, and nothing but a host of petty, gnawing vices now cling to it like worms to a corpse.
quote by Alexis de Tocqueville

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The New Tyranny
The New Tyranny
This dawn after rain had trumpeting its force on the old roof tiles
It ceased a soft a soft drizzle, Yes I know I should get up at eight
steeped as I’m in a protestant work ethic, but overcome by
laziness slept for another hour. In my drowsiness I thought how
our freedom has been restricted by the internet.
Our thoughts and secrets are no longer our property but shared
by authorities that want to know our innermost thoughts, we are
prisoners of an all embracing society that will not tolerate thoughts
other than the banal comments about friends’ birthdays.
What was heralded to be a great instrument of communication is
spied upon by our leaders who know more about us now then
the Stasi did in East Germany. Free speech only exist for those who
have nothing to say and accept living in the land of conventions.
Nothing can be nobler if we demand our right not to be censured
and called seditious because we will not be trapped into trivial
acceptance of perceived lies.
poem by Oskar Hansen

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The Poetry Of Confession
THE POETRY OF CONFESSION
The poetry of confession -
The poetry of self- indulgence-
The poetry of the ‘wretch con-centered all in self’-
The poetry of moods and feelings-
Of all ideas only as they relate to the poet himself-
The poetry of desperation-
The poetry of need-
The poetry of urgency -
And serving the poet first-
Not enough of the world
Not enough of others- of other perspectives
Not formal and disciplined enough-
The poetry which is not crafted and polished
The poetry in which the need of the poet
Is more central than the quality of the poetry –
The poetry which may be too selfish to be good-
Whose moral failure makes more prominent its aesthetic flaws-
The poetry which is not so good
And not great
But quite banal and commonplace –
A poet can give his life to his poetry
And that still be nothing at all-
poem by Shalom Freedman

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Thoughts Descend
Thoughts descend,
They come down
From the world unexplored;
In the forms of waves,
Purple, pink or black
Or winged birds:
Twittering sparrows,
Cooing doves or pigeons,
Or singing nightingales,
And sometimes they fall
Like stones hurling down.
Thoughts that soar near are captured
By the minds,
Some are spoken, some are penned
And become the record,
While the un-captured return behind
To the origin.
Innocent plain minds
Capture magnificent thoughts,
But the murky minds magnetize
Sable ones wherefrom sprout
The boughs of violence and odium
That transform the world
Into a place of turmoil.
poem by Muhammad Shanazar

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Unincorporated Insights V
For what reason do we speak un-freely,
Relegating ourselves to elision?
Our motives are spoken clandestinely,
Enshrouded by baseless omission.
As zombie hoards packed in a ballet box,
Groaning for a persona non grata,
Our disheveled culture carelessly stocks
Its thoughts of banal desiderata.
We replace facts with comforts and patterns.
We substitute our fate for the future—
Devoured like the many sons of Saturn,
Relinquishing our delineature.
We dismantle our bloodlines and unions,
Cauterized by divergent opinions.
poem by Tim Stensloff

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
To some, the '50s were a decade marked by the banal, the predictable.
quote by Annette Funicello

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Do You Have Any Thoughts About Me?
Do you have any thoughts about me?
And I want to know if the thoughts that you have about me
Are any good?
Do you mind sharing the thoughts about me?
What are the thoughts about me like?
Are the thoughts about me semtimental?
Are the thoughts about me very romantic?
Are the thoughts about me full of love?
poem by Aldo Kraas

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Everything has been said yet few have taken advantage of it. Since all our knowledge is essentially banal, it can only be of value to minds that are not.
quote by Raoul Vaneigem

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Happy Thoughts, Happy Thoughts, Think Happy Thoughts
I have to keep reminding myself to forget you.
Forget you and me.
(Happy thoughts, happy thoughts, think happy thoughts.)
You wanted me to promise to never say it again
Those three words
(Happy thoughts, happy thoughts, think happy thoughts)
Which is laughably easy to do right now because
We are so far out of touch I couldn’t reach you if I tried
(Happy thoughts, happy thoughts, think happy thoughts)
So I plod through grey days and inky dark nights
Heavy laden with regret
(Happy thoughts, happy thoughts, think happy thoughts)
Tomorrow I will remind myself to forget you.
Forget you and me.
12-25-07
djlw
poem by Shannon Wright

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Tourism, human circulation considered as consumption is fundamentally nothing more than the leisure of going to see what has become banal.
quote by Guy Debord

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!

In science, all facts, no matter how trivial or banal, enjoy democratic equality.
quote by Mary McCarthy

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
0396 The Almost Unknown Language
I like to think that
there's a language
which is unspoken, unwritten
except
on rare occasions when a poet
puts two words together or
sometimes even
a whole line
which haunts the reader
beyond sense, even
beyond understanding and
beyond beauty as perceived and
beyond truth as previously revealed
but good beyond hope and yet
not beyond a shiver of delight and
the poet has heard it
in the space between the thoughts
in the space between the words
in the silence between the thoughts
in the silence between the words
and somewhere very wonderful
two beings we've never seen
look at each other
and smile
poem by Michael Shepherd

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Banal words function as a feeble phenomena that fall into their own mental bogs of meaning.
quote by Robert Smithson

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Dumbing Down The World
Im dumbing down the world
Yes, Im dumbing down the world
And my head is held high
And the glint in my eye
And my arrogance rumbles before me!
Im dumbing down the world!
Im dumbing down the world!
Im dumbing down, Im dumbing down the world!
Im dumbing down the world!
And my thoughts are banal, like a stagnant canal
And my sycophants shamble behind me
Im dumbing down the world
Yeah, Im dumbing down the world
Im dumbing down, Im dumbing down the world
Yeah, Im dumbing down the world!
And my power is come around, is come around
Yes! my hour is come around, is come around - look around!
Im dumbing down the world
Yes, Im dumbing down the world
And my works are designed to suck blood from your mind
For you energy feeds and sustains me!
Im dumbing down the world!
Yes, Im dumbing down the world
Im dumbing down the world (and I love it!)
Im dumbing down the world
song performed by by Waterboys

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Dumbin' Down The World
I'm dumbing down the world
Yes, I'm dumbing down the world
And my head is held high
And the glint in my eye
And my arrogance rumbles before me!
I'm dumbing down the world!
I'm dumbing down the world!
I'm dumbing down, I'm dumbing down the world!
I'm dumbing down the world!
And my thoughts are banal, like a stagnant canal
and my sycophants shamble behind me
I'm dumbing down the world
Yeah, I'm dumbing down the world
I'm dumbing down, I'm dumbing down the world
Yeah, I'm dumbing down the world!
And my power is come around, is come around
Yes! My hour is come around, is come around - look around!
I'm dumbing down the world
Yes, I'm dumbing down the world
And my works are designed to suck blood from your mind
for you energy feeds and sustains me!
I'm dumbing down the world!
Yes, I'm dumbing down the world
I'm dumbing down the world (and I love it!)
I'm dumbing down the world
song performed by by Waterboys

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Dumbin' Down The World
I'm dumbing down the world
Yes, I'm dumbing down the world
And my head is held high
And the glint in my eye
And my arrogance rumbles before me!
I'm dumbing down the world!
I'm dumbing down the world!
I'm dumbing down, I'm dumbing down the world!
I'm dumbing down the world!
And my thoughts are banal, like a stagnant canal
and my sycophants shamble behind me
I'm dumbing down the world
Yeah, I'm dumbing down the world
I'm dumbing down, I'm dumbing down the world
Yeah, I'm dumbing down the world!
And my power is come around, is come around
Yes! My hour is come around, is come around - look around!
I'm dumbing down the world
Yes, I'm dumbing down the world
And my works are designed to suck blood from your mind
for you energy feeds and sustains me!
I'm dumbing down the world!
Yes, I'm dumbing down the world
I'm dumbing down the world (and I love it!)
I'm dumbing down the world
song performed by by Waterboys

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Dumbing Down The World
Im dumbing down the world
Yes, Im dumbing down the world
And my head is held high
And the glint in my eye
And my arrogance rumbles before me!
Im dumbing down the world!
Im dumbing down the world!
Im dumbing down, Im dumbing down the world!
Im dumbing down the world!
And my thoughts are banal, like a stagnant canal
And my sycophants shamble behind me
Im dumbing down the world
Yeah, Im dumbing down the world
Im dumbing down, Im dumbing down the world
Yeah, Im dumbing down the world!
And my power is come around, is come around
Yes! my hour is come around, is come around - look around!
Im dumbing down the world
Yes, Im dumbing down the world
And my works are designed to suck blood from your mind
For you energy feeds and sustains me!
Im dumbing down the world!
Yes, Im dumbing down the world
Im dumbing down the world (and I love it!)
Im dumbing down the world
song performed by by Waterboys

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!

Solitude is essentially a matter of pride; you bury yourself in your own scent. The issue is the same for all real poets. If you've been happy for too long, you become banal. By the same token, if you've been unhappy for a long time, you lose your poetic power...Happiness and poverty can only coexist for the briefest time. Afterword either happiness coarsens the poet or the poem is so true it destroys his happiness.
quote by Orhan Pamuk

Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
Vote! | Copy!
My Thoughts
Thought in the eyes,
The ears.
Thought in mind,
The brain,
Thought in heart,
The soul.
Great thought is great
when it becomes great deeds.
With my thoughts within
Building my world within
Learning with thought;
Is great learning wisdom.
Learning without thought,
Is opportunity lost.
Thought for others
Thought for God
Thought for good
Thought for God’s blessing
Thoughts teach me,
Thoughts educate me,
Thoughts clarify me,
Thoughts enlighten me.
Thoughts make me wise
Thoughts make me patience
Thoughts make me trust others
Thoughts make me clam.
Thoughts before act
Is smart and wise
Act before thoughts
Is stupid and foolish
That’s my thoughts
They make thinking clear
They make belief deepen
They make confidence high.
In thoughts, my world
In my world, make my thoughts.
In thoughts, my words
In my words, make my speech
It’s my thoughts count
Counting my thoughts
To endless counting thoughts
Thinking the thoughts endlessly
My thoughts and thoughts again.
poem by Lawrence Hiung

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!