I might have known, / What far too soon, alas! I learn'd / The heart can bind itself alone, / And faith may oft be unreturn'd.' Matthew Arnold, 'Isolation: To Marguerite'

Vain are the thousand creeds / That move men's hearts... Emily Bronte

Poetry gives voice to what has no voice and form to what has no form, and creates the illusion of possession.

All her poems have written underneath - 'I have seen it.' - Randall Jarrell

What happens with me is quite often I start with a memory, mix it with observations of people I know and then mix in a bit of 'What if...?' - Michael Rosen

With a lyric poem, you look, and meditate, and put the rock back. With fiction you poke things with a stick to see what will happen. - Margaret Atwood