Jack Prelutsky Quotations

I look for poetry in English because it's the only language I read.

I invented animals and birds - I had about two dozen. After working on them for six months, I sat down and just for fun wrote two dozen poems to accompany the drawings. It was for no one to every see, but a friend sent me in to an editor.

I keep a guitar around while writing and will improvise music. I do this for several reasons, such as that it's fun, and sometimes it helps me with the meter.

I would go to sketch groups and draw. I really enjoyed the subject matter, but I wasn't good at it.

I write the poems first, with only a few exceptions for odd reasons, where I'm given the illustration first.

The sound of a word is at least as important as the meaning.

I always knew would be some sort of artist, but didn't know what.

Poetry seems to sink into us the way prose doesn't. I can still quote verses I learned when I was very young, but I have trouble remembering one line of a novel I just finished reading.

We all need ways to express ourselves, and poetry is one of mine.

Otherwise I don't read much adult poetry at all, because I'm not smart enough and mostly I don't get it.