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."

"No poem is easily grasped so why should any reader expect fast results?"

"Sometimes poetry is inspired by the conversation entered into by reading other poems."

"An experienced reader uses the poem as an agent of inquiry. This makes poetry very exciting, unstable, and interactive."

"Poetry is but another form of inquiry into the nature of phenomena, using with its own unique procedures and tools."

"In the past, poetry came in the form of spells and chants used to effect change."