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