(1925–2012)
U.S. poet
Jack Gilbert
Being alive is so extraordinary I don’t know why people limit it to riches, pride, security—all of those things life is built on. People miss so much because they want money and comfort and pride, a house and a job to pay for the house. And they have to get a car. You can’t see anything from a car. It’s moving too fast. People take vacations. That’s their reward—the vacation. Why not the life?
“Jack Gilbert, The Art of Poetry No. 91,” interviewed by Ted Widmer, in Issue 175 of The Paris Review, Fall/Winter 2005.