Diane di Prima

Diane di Prima ([[6 August 1934 – 25 October 2020) was an American poet, known for her association with the Beat movement. She was also an artist, prose writer, and teacher. Her magnum opus is widely considered to be Loba, a collection of poems first published in 1978 then extended in 1998.

Quotes

• I have just realized that the stakes are myself
  I have no other
  • Excerpt from "Revolutionary Letter #1"

• get up, put on your shoes, get
  started, someone will finish
  • Excerpt from "Revolutionary Letter #2"

• Left to themselves people
  grow their hair.
  Left to themselves they
  take off their shoes.
  Left to themselves they make love
  sleep easily
  share blankets, dope & children
  they are not lazy or afraid
  they plant seeds, they smile, they
  speak to one another.
  
  • Excerpt from "Revolutionary Letter #4"

• avoid the folk
  who find Bonnie and Clyde too violent
  • Excerpt from "Revolutionary Letter #6"

• but don’t get uptight : the guns
  will not win this one, they are
  an incidental part of the action
  which we better damn well be good at,
  what will win
  is mantras, the sustenance we give each other,
  the energy we plug into

(the fact that we touch

share food)

the buddha nature

of everyone, friend and foe, like a million earthworms
tunnelling under this structure
till it falls

• Excerpt from "Revolutionary Letter #7"

External links

• Diane di Prima on Poetry Foundation
• Diane di Prima on poets.org