29+ Elaine Equi Quotes On Education, Innovative And Surrealistic

Elaine Equi is an American poet, essayist, and professor. She is known for her experimental poetry, often incorporating humor and pop culture references. Her work has been described as "playful, ironic, and often outrageous, but at the same time, deeply serious and emotionally resonant." Following is our collection on famous quotes by Elaine Equi on love, education, life.

Top 10 Elaine Equi Quotes

1. I don't like speed. I would have made a terrible Futurist. Even when I did take drugs, I never liked amphetamines and much preferred the slow taffy-pull of time that you get with opiates.
2. I like to look at the interface between words and pictures and wonder about which comes first, a sort of chicken-or-egg type of question.
3. When I shut off the verbal, I like to escape into the visual.
4. The inner and outer, the visible and invisible, the abstract and concrete - you've got to get the balance right (not that I do, but it's something to aim for).
5. I think the more stability a person has, the more they can follow esoteric or intellectual pursuits.
6. I tend to be a pretty spacey and scattered person, so anything that makes me feel "grounded" comes as a welcome relief.
7. The earth has always supported me in all my endeavors. I trust it.
8. In a machine, every part has a function. In a poem, every word needs to be there.
9. Technology sounds quick and easy, but it ends up taking up too much of your time.
10. I tend to like poems that are short as well as funny. I love Joe Brainard and Aram Saroyan. And I think their sense of humor and minimalist approach are pretty radical.

Elaine Equi Famous Quotes And Sayings

The postcard is sacred to me. It makes me sad that no one sends them very much anymore because of email and texting. I still like to buy them, but they've lost their original function and now just seem like reminders or mementos of what they used to be. — Elaine Equi

I can appreciate the idea that with e-books more people would publish, the work would be easier to disseminate, and that it could even be interactive. Being a lover of photography, I especially like the idea that you could include lots of pictures - full-color pictures - with your writing. That to me is exciting! We'll all have to stay tuned to see what develops. — Elaine Equi

I've always liked language and been a big reader. I always loved books as objects. My favorite time of year as a child was September when we'd go buy all kinds of notebooks and pens and markers for school. I think I wanted to be a writer just so I'd be able to fill up all those pages. — Elaine Equi

What I like best about teaching is that it allows me to explore my own interest with a group. — Elaine Equi

In the past things were either in your head (subjective, imaginary, fantasy) or else they were part of the outside world - cold, hard, concrete materialistic reality. If you want to look at it in terms of poetry, there was surrealism and objectivism. Now there's the veil of the virtual in between. The old opposition between inner and outer doesn't quite capture it, especially as it contains elements of both. It's real but not concrete. — Elaine Equi

I don't write every day, but if I go more than a couple of months without writing, I begin to get a little nervous. I usually have bursts of poems. Five or six come together and then I slack off and want to do something else. — Elaine Equi

It's my experience that people write better when they feel at ease and free to experiment, rather than being in a competitive, hypercritical atmosphere. There are always a few students who want me to be tough or harsh, but it's really not my style. — Elaine Equi

I can never plan out what direction my poems will take in terms of either form or content. I wish I could but it doesn't work that way for me. If I try to write something, I'd probably end up doing the opposite. — Elaine Equi

I wonder if books become in essence "files" if people wouldn't write them differently. I'm used to writing print books and I enjoy the slowness of the whole process. It makes me more deliberate about everything I say. — Elaine Equi

In order for poetry to exist there has to be not-poetry to contrast it with. — Elaine Equi

I think poetry workshops get a bad rap. I'm sure some aren't good, but in general, I like the format. I try and keep mine pretty informal. Sometimes we have wine or sake, and we read aloud, and we talk. — Elaine Equi

When I think of someone equating poems and machines, it makes me feel like that person would like poems to have a more obvious use value in society. They're not happy with poetry being this ephemeral, indefinable thing. They want it to be "real." — Elaine Equi

I have a lot of respect for advertising. If I didn't teach and could go back in time, I might try and become a copywriter. I especially like print ads that combine a photo with a short caption or tag line. — Elaine Equi

I never liked the philosophy that you can have everything and be everything and that something is wrong if you don't want that. I'm terrible at multitasking and find it hard to believe that no one protests this general trend of using the rhetoric of self actualization to sell you faster and faster phones and computers, BlackBerrys, etc. — Elaine Equi

In Chicago, if you tell someone you're a writer, they look at you suspiciously - as if to say "yeah, right." In New York, people don't question the idea. If you say you're a writer, that's what you are. — Elaine Equi

To be honest, I wasn't crazy about the kind of poetry I found in high school English books. I didn't get really excited about poetry until I discovered Lorca in college. If it wasn't for surrealism, I'm not sure I'd have become so involved in poetry. I was attracted by the extravagant imagery and elements of fantasy. This was in the '70s and it seemed to fit the psychedelic mood of the times. I found it liberating. — Elaine Equi

I like being married to another writer. You get to trade ideas. You get to talk shop. You get to complain. You get to gossip. And you don't have to explain why you're in such a bad mood when your work isn't going well. — Elaine Equi

Sometimes you get lit students that know a lot about the canon but virtually nothing about contemporary poetry and vice versa. I like to mix things up. — Elaine Equi

There are fewer and fewer philosophies that everyone subscribes to. We don't seem to have as many beliefs in common as we used to. Also, we interact much more online. We have all these gadgets to help us manage different aspects of our lives. — Elaine Equi

Life Lessons by Elaine Equi

1. Elaine Equi’s work emphasizes the importance of being honest and authentic in one’s writing. Her poems often explore the complexities of human relationships and the power of language to convey emotion.
2. Equi’s writing also encourages readers to be mindful of their own lives and experiences, and to recognize the beauty in the everyday.
3. Through her work, Equi teaches us to be open to the possibilities of life and to appreciate the small moments that make up our lives.