I really just love reading. It’s my favorite thing, performing my poems live. Reading by reading, I just kind of follow my nose. – Eileen Myles
If the poetry world celebrate its female stars at the true level of their productivity and influence, poetry would wind up being a largely female world, and the men would leave. – Eileen Myles
I’ve grown to love Barack Obama. Hillary is no Bernie Sanders. But she’s a politician, and she understands Congress. And I think with that kind of twisted beauty, she could lead our country. – Eileen Myles
Certainly in the arts, in all genres, I think that men should step away. I think men should stop writing books. I think men should stop making movies or television. Say, for 50 to 100 years. – Eileen Myles
I’d like to sit down with Hillary Clinton onstage and ask her about Glass Steagall and all the big banks and her own campaign contributions. – Eileen Myles
A vote should be generative, not like business as usual, which is what voting feels like for most of us. – Eileen Myles
In my family, I’m the middle of three, and I’m like a lot of middle children. I was one of those kids that floated from group to group. I liked being able to be included in all the groups – the bad kids, the smart kids. – Eileen Myles
Somehow, the whole idea of me writing art reviews was just too much of a complicated thought, but I liked art, and later on I just realized that it would be perhaps a pleasure, and so I decided to do it for ‘Art in America’ – a lot. – Eileen Myles
Evolution is not an even process. There are surges, and there are micromoments. Certainly a career as an artist is that way. – Eileen Myles
I’m the weird poet who has paid her dues in the experimental world for 30 or 40 years. – Eileen Myles
Sunday is a likely day to write a poem. Because poetry is a piece of language flying around: you’ll find notebooks, something on your phone. It’s about finding them and getting them off that crumpled piece of paper and onto my computer. – Eileen Myles
The only job that ever really worked for me was teaching because you are your own master once you get into the room. You just have to show up on time and talk about what you care about. – Eileen Myles
Having big audiences when you’re on a book tour is like Valhalla if you’re a person who used to sell Girl Scout cookies on the side. Because you want to give the reading that will sell the most books. – Eileen Myles
Lyndon Johnson, I know for a fact, was a great president. And I don’t mean by that he was a great man. – Eileen Myles
To be a poet, it’s a challenge to do it in poverty, to do it in wealth. To do it in the academy, to do it in a relationship where you’re happy. Everything changes the game. To do it in the awkward state of love, despair, dying. You just have to work it. – Eileen Myles
I’m using my degree. You know, I studied English and American literature in college, and now I’m an American poet. – Eileen Myles