I'm always trying to bring as many poetic properties as possible to the essay without making it too overburdened.

I'm really interested in culture because it is such a powerful human force, particularly in America where we think it's all about the individual.

What I like about teaching is the discipline of finding words to unpack the artistic process. And I admire the drive in students who want to write, the mystery of how artistic talent unfolds.

As writers, the world is not about individual expression entirely because we are producing works of literature and getting them out into the world.

A lot of times students will come up to me and say, "Well, I can't write because I don't know what I think about such-and-such." And I say, "That's why you have to write." You don't wait until you know, because then who cares - it's static.

It's extremely important that, as writers, we give a voice to those who don't have voices, including the other animals that we share the planet with and the places that are endangered or being lost.

Poetry is one of the most full ways of discovering what it feels like to be a human being in this particular moment, in this particular set of concerns. It's all about discovery.