Quotes from Ralph Fletcher

When someone you love dies, you get a big bowl of sadness put down in front of you, steaming hot. You can start eating now, or you can let it cool and eat it bit by bit later one. Either way, you end up eating the whole thing. There's really no way around it.

The real meaning of a poem is to stop time.

When students write from experience, they can breathe those specifics into their writing- dialect, odd smells, precise names of plants- that can animate even the most tired and tedious text.

Penulis sama dengan orang-orang lain, kecuali untuk satu perbedaan kecil yang penting. Orang lain berpikir dan merasa setiap hari, tetapi mereka tidak melakukan apa-apa dengan itu. Sebaliknya, penulis bereaksi.

Writing words is like flying, Rachel thought. Words aren't solid. Words are lighter than air. But even so, they can sometimes give you a lift.

At night these people put out food so the ghosts will have something to eat. They put out Vietnamese food for the ghosts of the dead Vietnamese soldiers. But many American GIs died, too, so they put out American food for the ghosts of the dead American soldiers.

Springtime and I wish I knew you

Just think: our world is a particle spinning through an infinity!

My father's a heart surgeon but you don't see me going around cutting up people's hearts!" Christopher retorted. He scratched his head. "Though actually that might be kind of fun!

You don't learn to write by going through a series of preset writing exercises. You learn to write by grappling with a real subject that truly matters to you.

The real meaning of a poem is to stop time.

Poems are the 'daredevil' of writing because a poem will say what nobody else wants to say.