I have piles of poetry books in the bathroom, on the stairs, everywhere. The only way to write poetry is to read it.

Duffy stresses that poetry is learned through immersion rather than inspiration alone. The image of books scattered through domestic spaces suggests a life lived in continual contact with poems—reading as habit, not ceremony. Her claim that “the only way” to write poetry is to read it frames writing as participation in an ongoing tradition: poets absorb rhythms, forms, diction, and possibilities by encountering what others have made. It also implies humility and apprenticeship—craft develops through attentive listening to other voices. The remark doubles as practical advice to aspiring writers and a defense of reading culture as the foundation of literary creativity.