Each section of my forthcoming book of poems Boat of Letters begins with a quote from a traditional Jewish source alongside a quote from an American poet. This design unfolded naturally. I found myself interested in these ‘conversations’ between words from poets and words from Jewish sources. Here is the the first conversation which appears as the epigraph to the book:
I’ll leave these sentences with you and the link between them. Here is a prompt inspired by this post:
Write down a few quotes you love written by poets (the lines can either be from a poem or from prose written by the poet) and then write down quotes you like from other texts: religious, philosophy, literary theory, political thought, even instruction manuals can work…) and see if any connect, see if a conversation begins to happen between the two quotes from the different categories. And then see if you can write something born from that conversation.
Painting: Georges Braque, Bord de Mer (The Seaside), 1960