Kevin Clark speaking at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo commencement ceremony. Kevin Clark is a poet, essayist, and teacher in the English Department at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo.
“I like restraint—if doesn’t go too far.”
“How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?”
“Poetry begins where certitude ends.”
“Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.”
“The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe.”
“There is only one plot: Things are not what they seem.”
“Let’s play two.”
“The art of running the mile consists, in essence, of reaching the threshold of consciousness at the instant of breasting the tape.”
“Poetry is a dream dreamed in the presence of reason.”
“For me the initial delight is in the surprise of remembering something I didn’t know I already knew.”
“A work of art is never completed, merely abandoned.”
“Keep your eye clear and hit ’em where they ain’t.”
“In the midst of our happiness we were very pleased.”