Jose Garcia Villa Quotes

A poem is language built to the struc- ture of a flower.

I shall talk to you through trees, through the arms of dancers, through sweet words uttered by many lovers. The arms of dancers round you shall be my arms. The eyes of men admiring you shall be my eyes. I have many arms, many eyes. It is that, loving you, I have become many lovers.

First, a poem must be magical, then musical as a sea-gull.

Between one and one Between integer and integer Is itself’s nothing The abstract zero. Between I and I Between self and self Is itself’s everything The abstract Hero That self may equate to Or keep ever as two.

In his Greenwich Village apartment, Jose Garcia Villa fords his fiords of books and papers on his way to the bar of the anchored angel. In a boxcar to Bakersfield stars beam on Carlos Bulosan papaya blossoms of Mangusmana.

I,it,was,that,saw, God,dancing,on,phosphorescent,toes, Among,the,strawberries. It,could,have,been,moonlight,or, Daylight—or,no,light,at,all. His,feet,cast,light,on,all. On,phosphorescent,feet, On,phosphorescent,feet,He,danced, And,His,eyes,were,closed: He,made,the,strawberries,tremble! Yet,He,hurt,not,the,little,one, But,gave,them,ripeness,all.

Observe me, I do not speak. But I am very quick And already I have spoken. Observe me as now I speak. But I am very quick And already I have unspoken.

Art is a miraculous flirtation with Nothing! Aiming for nothing, and landing on the Sun.

Not,speech,that,has,fire, But,Fire,that,can,speak— Genius.

The,genius,is,not,greater, Than,its,radius, Which,defines,its,genius. The,tower,is,not,greater, Than,its,altitude, Which,defines,its,solitude.

Where are there square bubbles?

The,pages,of,a,mirror, Are,translucent.

I,astonish,Death,with,my,largesse. She,becomes,a,silly,maid, Saying, “Never,mind. Never,mind.

Nevermore to delay life End the beginning Devise the bravest perpendicular To the squarest circle. Assume the ending. If He lies broken who broke Him? Assume your innocence! If you are broken who broke you? Assume His innocence! The perpendicular of heaven and death! Now the wounded may rest. If He—on your breast. If you—on His brest. Rest, rest.

Sir, there’s a tower of fire in me Binding me with terrible strength The whole of my mortal length And splitting brave the skull’s empery In a rush of dauntless energy To reach the most luminous ether I am the mortal grounding of a tower Imminent with immortality.

Be beautiful, noble, like the antique ant, Who bore the storms as he bore the sun, Wearing neither gown nor helmet, Though he was archbishop and soldier: Wore only his own flesh. ... Trace the tracelessness of the ant, Every ant has reached this perfection. As he comes, so he goes, Flowing as water flows, Essential but secret like a rose.

To,speak,of,the,interior,of,light, Requires,speaker,broken,by,light.

With,simple,hands— Like,the,first,hands,of,Adam, Discovering,Eve.

An,Epigram, Is,an,epic,Weight, Concealed, In,a,gram’s,Space.

A,bee,flying,to,the,end,of,the,world, To,find,one,flower,wherein,to,lie,curled, Is,a,Fiction,is,a,lie, That,will,keep,God,in,the,sky.

there where her night begins there be her goldest rosest rose that in her deep wisdom knows boygrace will knight her Rose

But since Christ is not easy (You must hunt him first among The white shadows of black birds With a mask upon your shoulder And a rose upon your eyes!)—

A radio made of seawater Will have mermaids for music: Who when me they will kiss All my senses will greet.

I can no more hear Love’s Voice.

Skies,are,written, Because,skies,are,born.

A matter of physics—Length and Tension—How does the performer make it sing above the laws of sound?

The,purpose,of,a,match?” “To,start,a,fire,with.” No. “To,store,up,fire, And,to,keep,it,cool.

Mathematicians,excell,us, Take,a,census, Of,the,canaries,in,the,sun.

At,twelve,o’clock,the,poet,is,sad. At,thirteen,o’clock,the,world,goes,mad. At,mad,o’clock,the,hero’s,blood. At,blood,o’clock,the,shining,truth. At,truth,o’clock,the,Timeless,Head.

Fade,out,fade,out, Pale,spermless,God: Arise,fire-testicled,God.

If,wisdom,can,not,count, The,petals,of,a,snake, Yet,wisdom,can, Its,backbone,break.

When,Nothing,is,so,well,said, Or,so,well,done, It,betrays,itself,and,becomes, Something: As,apples,by,Cézanne,or,just, Lines,by,Modrian.

Have I sung? Have I become soft, beautiful?

The way my ideas think me Is the way I unthink God. As in the name of heaven I make hell That is the way the Lord says me. And all is adventure and danger And I roll Him off cliffs and mountains But fast as I am to push Him off Fast am I to reach Him below. And it may be then His turn to push me off, I wait breathless for that terrible second: And if He push me not, I turn around in anger: “O art thou the God I would have!” Then He pushes me and I plunge down, down! And when He comes to help me up I put my arms around Him, saying, “Brother, Brother.” . . . This is the way we are.

in blue wihout when blues dream bears the only living girls are gold quickly the living boys will bring them stars and stars will sing them bells in bells without when bells dream blooms the only living boys are brave quickly the living girls will bring them dooms and dooms will praise their love

Youth must triumph... now. Afterwards, it will be life.