“A person cannot write poetry unless he or she is on the ascending energy arc. We have these times in our lives, in which a little shock comes through and we see how we could be happier, or we could have more energy … little peaks—and they’re always accompanied by a certain elation, joy, ecstasy—beautiful important moments at which you’re hitting your peak. Those are the moments out of which a poem should come. So you don’t forget that peak. If you pay attention to that peak it may return, and you’ll begin to evolve, hum, with more energy all the time. Poetry has to do with those moments and if you betray those moments by trying to get your poems in the New Yorker, or to be famous with them, or to make money with them, you’re going to destroy your own peak moments.”
—Robert Bly, from “The Ascending Energy Arc” in Talking All Morning (University of Michigan Press, 1990) Poet on Poetry Series
