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

I play with language a great deal in my poems, and I enjoy that. I try to condense language, that is, I try to express complicated but I hope real emotions as simply as possible. But that doesn't mean the poems are simple, just that they are as truthful as I can make them.

I did know Ted Hughes and I partly wrote the book to explain to myself and others the complexities of a marriage that was for six years wonderfully productive of poetry and then ended in tragedy.

I'm not really quiet or shy. Ask any of my friends! But I always ground my poetry in life itself. Poetry is an art of language, though, so I am always aware of every word's meaning, or multiple meanings.

There comes a time when you have to trust your own judgment, when you must close your eyes and let your instinct rule you.

I like rhyme because it is memorable, I like form because having to work to a pattern gives me original ideas.

There's no friend like someone who has known you since you were five.