April 28, inspiring quote. Ok, so is it cheating not to pick a poetry quote for poetry month? No! I say anything can inspire a poet, including the great Kurt Vonnegut in his opening lines of Slaughterhouse Five. This line is the maxim of a poet. We approximate towards meaning, some embracing music some embracing trauma, all of us bringing our life and the wide life of the world into our work. All this happens, more or less.