Dawes Quotes

For he owre englishe gilte with his sawes, Rude and boistous firste be olde dawes, That was ful fer from al perfeccioun And but of litel reputacioun Til that he cam, and thorugh his poetrie, Gan oure tonge firste to magnifie And adourne it with his eloquence: To whom honour, laude and reuerence. (John Lydgate)
I love the poet Kwame Dawes, and I always come back to this quote of his: "We are political by our noise and by our silence.” What we choose to be excited about is political. For the longest time, I'd kind of cringe, thinking I'm not bold enough to be political. His words really helped me own the power of my own enthusiasm. Think of how many things weren't championed by the publishing world in the '80s and '90s. Think of how many things weren't even encouraged. It's not that there weren't Asian Americans writing literature or writing about nature. The publishing houses chose not to publish them. That's a political statement, too....So for anybody who says, Oh, I don't want to get too political here-we're all political. You're political by what you champion and what you stay quiet about. View quote
Aimee Nezhukumatathil