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Diane di Prima

  • “throw in your lot / w/the gals & guys on the streets / write like you talk / talk like you sing / sing like you dance / or love.”

    • Diane di Prima,
    • "Keep the Beat," The Poetry Deal ()

  • “remember / that all you need to remember is what you love / Remember to Marry the World.”

    • Diane di Prima,
    • "Memorial Day, 2003," The Poetry Deal ()

  • “don't ask why I / have bad dreams / ask why if I don't.”

    • Diane di Prima,
    • "War Haiku: Lebanon," The Poetry Deal ()

  • “All borders disappear in catastrophe / they are stupid & irrelevant anyway.”

    • Diane di Prima,
    • "Haiti, Chile, Tibet," The Poetry Deal ()

  • “Poems are angels / come to bring you / the letter you wdn't / sign for / earlier, when it was / delivered / by yr life.”

    • Diane di Prima,
    • "To a Student," The Poetry Deal ()

  • “at least the Bay Bridge snapped / Maybe because the people / haven't. They just keep going: / dopey smiles, dopey music in / their ear buds. Somebody / had to say something. / & the dolphins, if they tried, / wouldn't be believed.”

    • Diane di Prima,
    • "On the Train," The Poetry Deal ()

  • “Poetry can bring rain & make the crops grow. It smoothes the path for the traveler and brings sleep to the feverish child.”

    • Diane di Prima,
    • "Some Words About the Poem," The Poetry Deal ()

  • “Poets speak truth when no one else can or will. That's why the hunger for poetry grows when the world grows dark. When repression grows, when people speak in whispers or not at all, they turn to poetry to find out what's going on.”

    • Diane di Prima,
    • "Some Words About the Poem," The Poetry Deal ()

  • “There are as many kinds of kisses as there are people on earth, as there are permutations and combinations of those people. No two people kiss alike — no two people fuck alike — but somehow the kiss is more personal, more individualized than the fuck.”

  • “No babe / We'd never / Swing together but / the syncopation / would be something wild.”

  • “I think the poet is the last person who is still speaking the truth when no one else dares to. I think the poet is the first person to begin the shaping and visioning of the new forms and the new consciousness when no one else has begun to sense it; I think these are two of the most essential human functions.”

    • Diane di Prima

  • “I’m sorry I was / sick / on the road / at the gym / on retreat / meeting a deadline / buying socks / freaked out / watching baseball / painting / grieving / when you came to town.”

    • Diane di Prima,
    • "Clearing the Desk," The Poetry Deal ()

  • “I was too / broke / tired / busy / discouraged / dirty / unhinged / […] / to answer yr letter.”

    • Diane di Prima,
    • "Clearing the Desk," The Poetry Deal ()

  • “I’d love to send money (if I only had some) to / the UFW / Nalanda Translation Committee / […] / the Society to Lynch Newt Gingrich / & that new one: People Against Impermanence / (such a sweet idea) / ... / I don’t mean to ignore you / or hurt your feelings / but if it helps at all / feel free to ignore this note / I will understand.”

    • Diane di Prima,
    • "Clearing the Desk," The Poetry Deal ()

Diane di Prima, U.S. poet, artist

(1934)