I write, or used to write, to explain to myself situations I couldn't otherwise solve or understand. Meditation comes very naturally to me.

I married a young Englishman in Cambridge in 1955 and have lived in Britain every since.

democracy is dying. We are ruled by faceless bureaucrats and lecherous puritans. ... You think about it. 'All right for me but not for you' is their philosophy.

Each word bears its weight, so you have to read my poems quite slowly.

Poets should ignore most criticism and get on with making poetry.

Yes, I do often write poems from the mind, but I hope I don't ignore feelings and emotions.

I am now seventy, rather glad, really, that I won't live to see the horrors to come in the 21st century.