I understood that my words could be used as a weapon. James Matthews

And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans, my heart gives you love. - Walt Whitman 'Dirge For Two Veterans'

That self-same stuff which erst proud empires swayed, of which the conquerers of the world were made. - Hannah More 'Slavery: A Poem'

Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought. Percy Bysshe Shelley, 'Ode to a Skylark'

I take what the world throws at me, and spin, twist, skim, fly, flip, throw it back - Selima Hill

How you became a poet's a mystery! / Where did you get your talent from? / I say: I had two uncles, Joe and Harry - / one was a stammerer, the other dumb.- 'Heredity', Tony Harrison

Where is the spirit that touched the hearts / Lightly - chameleon colours of home? - 'Visiting Zomba Plateau', Jack Mapanje

I want that next poem. To get it I'll shed my skin, I'll lose my name, pretend I have no history, be history's fool, become elemental, all of these, none of these. - Fred D'Aguiar

...in a good poem the poet disappears. That's what the struggle with language is all about. The point is that in the finished poem you don't lay yourself bare. You create a strongbox of words. - Vicki Feaver