Marge Piercy except – from "Fooling with Words"

“Imagery can’t really be taught. You can lecture about the different kinds of imagery in different sorts of poems, but the truth is, imagery is the most important core of a poet. What you know and what you feel becomes your imagery. The more you actually see – how carefully you look at an opossum or a wildflower or the way light strikes water or hair; the more you actually listen to the natural and manufactured sounds of our world; the more you know about what the shape of a bird’s beak means about what it eats, or what the weeds growing in a field tell you about soil and its history – then the more stuff you will have within you that will rise and suggest itself as imagery. You have to stay open and curious and keep learning as you go. Poems come from a whole variety of sources. When you’re younger, you believe in inspiration. As you get older, you believe most in receptivity and work.”