Donald Justice Quotes

Donald Justice — American Poet born on August 12, 1925, died on August 06, 2004

Donald Justice was an American poet and teacher of writing. In summing up Justice's career David Orr wrote, "In most ways, Justice was no different from any number of solid, quiet older writers devoted to traditional short poems. But he was different in one important sense: sometimes his poems weren't just good; they were great. They were great in the way that Elizabeth Bishop's poems were great, or Thom Gunn's or Philip Larkin's. They were great in the way that tells us what poetry used to be, and is, and will be.".. (wikipedia)

Men at forty Learn to close softly The doors to rooms they will not be Coming back to.

If he could sleep on it. He would make his bed with white sheets And disappear into the white, Like a man diving, If he could be certain That the light Would not keep him awake, The light that reaches To the bottom.

There is no way to ease the burden. The voyage leads on from harm to harm, A land of others and of silence.

How shall I speak of Doom, and ours in special, But as of something altogether common?