
The demand that I make of my reader is that he should devote his whole Life to reading my works.
quote by James Joyce

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Related quotes
The reader has to be creative when he's reading. He has to try to make the thing alive. A good reader has to do a certain amount of work when he is reading.
quote by Nathalie Sarraute

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Stifle not the reader
Reading is an art,
reading is a tool.
Those who think it dumb,
must be such a fool.
Reading is enjoyment,
reading is a blast.
Reading is a separate entity
from the future and the past.
Reading is done in present,
though written in a tense.
Reading is about life,
in surprise or suspense.
Reading is a place of joy,
full of hope and song,
Reading is a place I feel
that I truly do belong.
A trapdoor to a fantasy,
A world thought lost to us,
Reading is a place of wonder,
a place that we can trust.
Why read about reality,
when I can delve into magic.
Why stifle my own happiness,
with scenarios so tragic.
Stifle not the reader,
for it is their choice alone.
Reading is an outlet,
for hearts that turned to stone.
I think I'm a very good reader of poetry, but obviously, like everybody, I have a set of criteria for reading poems, and I'm not shy about presenting them, so if people ask for my critical response to a poem, I tell them what works and why, and what doesn't work and why.
quote by Diane Wakoski

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.
quote by Mitch Albom

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Supply And Demand
My boss he's a probable bore.
Put me hands and knees on scrubable floor.
Do it right receive the lions share bliss.
Know all too well just where that ration is.
Learned a lot about the company doe.
Learned less about receiving it though.
Saw how it came to those who always sat pretty.
Don't need it.
Supply and demand.
My girl had a probable cause or so she said and took a probable pause.
I was dumped for occupying her time.
I asked her why and what was next in line.
She said "Shiny hair that's my life ambition
but I'll devote my time to a new omission the rizzle-razzle kitsch of paranoid city".
Don't need it.
Supply and demand.
Supply and demand.
song performed by by The Hives from Veni Vidi Vicious

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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An Apology To The Reader Who Has Written Me A Message I Have Not Answered
AN APOLOGY TO THE READER WHO HAS WRITTEN A MESSAGE TO ME I HAVE NOT ANSWERED
The real apology is not this poem
It is one by one
Reader by reader
Answering each one
Who has ever written me.
It is reading all the poems of others
I do not want to say
A ‘real no’ or a ‘false yes’ to.
It is opening myself
To perhaps a true friend
To perhaps one whose writing
I see better than my own.
The real apology
Is in opening up to the poems of the many unknown others.
Will I do this
Will I give it the time
When I already am guilty
Of not using my limited time
To correct my past work?
Dear Reader,
I apologize, I do not know.
poem by Shalom Freedman

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Being a librarian certainly helped me with my writing because it made me even more of a reader, and I was always an enthusiastic reader. Writing and reading seem to me to be different aspects of a single imaginative act.
quote by Margaret Mahy

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Nada Mas (only the poem)
Reader, your voice is the poem
you are the words; and
nothing more.
Reader, there is no poetry
unless you speak it.
Reader, there is no sound
you must find what it has to say.
Reader, seek the thought
rising from your soul.
Reader, look all about you, up and down
no one else has come this way.
Reader, there is no other poem
only you among the words of the word; and
nothing more.
poem by Smoky Hoss

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Reader or writer
If you are a reader or a writer.
You should be a positive thinker.
You are more like a scientist observer.
Try to be an exact experimenter.
Nothing is too crazy to put on paper.
If you are a reader or a writer.
The reader is a wonderful dreamer.
The writer is a sincere worker.
Its lovely that both can be each other.
If you are a reader or a writer.
You should never say never.
So don't leave behind a book marker.
Make sure you have a word sharpener.
Utility of life
Why thou devote your time
in cheating and fraudulent work
thou devote your time to the service of mankind
and for creatures of God
Thou devote your time
in chanting the name of thy God
Thou devote your time
in meditation and concentration
why thou waste your time in evil critics
thou devote your time
for good relationship and
worldwide fraternity
why thou waste your time for evil deed
thou devote your time for good deed
poem by Ramesh Rai

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Use Me Now
It is for Your pleasure,
That I am pleased...
Your Majesty.
Your blessings have delivered upon me,
Tremendous gifts.
And I devote my faithfulness,
To all that You are.
You...
Are My Highness.
And all within me,
That inspires to delight Your wishes.
I demand only my best to give!
This life I live is Yours...
I know!
And I wish to grow.
Only in those ways You allow.
Use me.
Use me!
Use me,
Now!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

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Respect the doer of mean works
Respect them who do works
That demand no respects
More than them who do works
That command reverence.
Not prepared for such works
That are held low or mean,
You must at least respect
Them who do men works to you.
As a doctor serves you
A barber too serves you.
As a teacher serves you
A sweeper too serves you.
06.02.2012
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar

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Metaphors
Like the unicorn,
they have to need to be;
to hear our need for them to be.
Like time,
they must creep up on the writer,
on the reader,
invisible
yet with inevitability
which cannot be escaped.
Like thieves,
they must enter unannounced,
take what they must.
Like mice,
they must take up residence
until there is no longer sustenance for them.
Like bailiffs,
they must demand entrance;
be admitted;
take their just exchange.
Like housekeepers,
they must earn their keep
by keeping us in all we ask of them.
Like lovers,
they must prove themselves
part of our lives
until our earthly sentence ends the dream.
Like children,
they must know their place;
then be loved just for themselves
beyond life itself.
Like life:
revealing its boundlessness
in a landscape that stretches out, is limitless.
Writer - reader -
care for a metaphor as for one you love:
as you love yourself;
they are our life-blood: for they tell of what
can only be said quietly, with a touch of hand,
to those whose heart is listening.
poem by Michael Shepherd

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When You Say You Love Me You Need Not Mean It
when you say you love me you need not mean it
i do not demand that the love i get be pure
nothing about its sanctity is a condition of my flesh
i always understand how this world works
how each creature finds a way to survive
that is why i do not really demand much
i do not even pay attention
i do not weigh words
because words are just words
and sometimes they hurt
purposely
i do not demand that you mean it
for there were many times when i also say them
without any meaning at all
let me tell once again: what 's love got to do with 'it'?
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

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Judge not my verse
Go ahead
judge me and my works
so sick and tired
of the negative jerks
there is no good and bad poetry
so I understand
I pay my taxes and
secure freedom and my land
so critique my writes as they are
there's no guarantee
they'll go very far
if I make a reader
shed a tear
make them laugh
make them cry
make them sigh
I'll forge onward with my verse
till' the day
I die
poem by Matt Mondschein

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The Ballade Of The Average Reader
I try to touch the public taste,
For thus I earn my daily bread.
I try to write what folks will paste
In scrap books after I am dead.
By Public Craving I am led.
(I' sooth, a most despotic leader)
Yet, though I write for Tom and Ned,
I've never seen an average reader.
The Editor is good and chaste,
But says: (Above the public's head;
This is _too_ good; 'twill go to waste.
Write something commonplacer-
Ed.)
Write for the average reader, fed
By pre-digested near-food's feeder,
But though my high ideals have fled,
I've never _seen_ an average reader.
How many lines have been erased!
How many fancies have been shed!
How many failures might be traced
To this-this average-reader dread!
I've seen an average single bed;
I've seen an average garden-weeder;
I've seen an average cotton thread-
I've _never_ seen an average _reader_.
L'ENVOI
Most read of readers, if you've read
The works of any old succeeder,
You know that he, too, must have said:
'I've never seen an Average Reader.'
poem by Franklin P. Adams

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The Chronicles Of A Day Stranded In Nature Part 4 Spend A Day
One day
I had another fey
Imbroglio... why you there reader would you care?
Why stay there
Reading this... I urge you
That you could share my experiences too
Spend just one fey day at least
In nature stranded with only essentials as for food, don't bring a feast
Spend a day
Reading me, stranded in nature, for that is when you truly know me
Or spend a day, stranded in nature, reading you, for that is when you truly
Truly... find yourself
poem by David Knox

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No Respect Of Persons
I am talking to you as you are reading my lines,
For, you are now without a defence;
And, Yahweh's Kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.
Your reward is according to your works,
My reward is according to my works,
Our rewards are according to our works;
But, on one hand, being persistence in doing righteous!
For, there is no respect of persons with Yahweh.
poem by Edward Kofi Louis

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0176 Letter to a Well-known Contemporary Poet
I wanted to write to you about your poems,
that is, about something I couldn't quite put my finger on
so I didn't write in case it sounded inconsequential
and it's silly to write to a poet who handles words so expertly,
inconsequentially..
Inconsequential. That's it. I appreciate that you want to stress
life's inconsequentiality - this happens, that happens, but
we're none the wiser - that's a modern concern, I appreciate,
no neat wrapping life up with a brisk end-rhyme...
but how can I put this tactfully, inconsequentiality
or is it tangentiality
can seem to the reader eager to extract meaning
that is, the poet's meaning, as near as can be...
inconsequentiality can seem...obscure...
for this very reason, since it's difficult
to share the same inconsequentiality
if you see what I mean
and this unintentional obscurity
can sometimes seem
of course I know you wouldn't
but let's say to an uninformed superficial reader -
like pretension?
I hope you don't mind my mentioning this
it's only because I do admire your writing so much
and I know that the prizes and awards you've won
proves that no-one could possibly accuse you of pretension
it's just that I thought I should say how it seems
to a very ordinary reader. I hope you will read this
in the spirit it's meant. And I do look forward
very much to reading your next book
now the library stocks them.
poem by Michael Shepherd

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A Better Future
Please dont tear this world asunder
Please take back
This fear were under
I demand a better future
Or I might just stop wanting you
I might just stop wanting you
Please make sure we get tomorrow
All this pain and all the sorrow
I demand a better future
Or I might just stop needing you
I might just stop needing you
Give my children sunny smile
Give them moon and cloudless sky
I demand a better future
Or I might just stop loving you,
Loving you, loving you
When we talk, we talk to you
When we walk, we walk to you
From factory to field
How many tears must fall
Down there below
Nothing is moving
Oo-o
I might just stop wanting you
I might just stop needing you
I might just stop loving you
I demand a better future
I demand a better future
I demand a better future
For I might just stop loving you,
Loving you, loving you
I demand a better future
I demand a better future
I demand a better future
For I might just stop loving you, loving you, loving you
I demand a better future
song performed by by David Bowie

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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