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.

A poem might be defined as thinking about feelings - about human feelings and frailties.

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

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

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

You've got criminal courts and child welfare officials refusing to do their jobs and protect children so they can shift the cases over to family court where predatory professionals can turn a dirty buck off the atrocities committed against children.

Blake has always been a favorite, the lyrics, not so much the prophetic books, but I suppose Yeats influenced me more as a young poet, and the American, Robert Frost.