I look and look, / As though I could be saved simply by looking

Merely to have survived is not an index of excellence.

It doesnt seem to me strange that children should like the macabre, the sensational, and the forbidden.

Poetry operates by hints and dark suggestions. It is full of secrets and hidden formulae, like a witch's brew.

There's not a good poet I know who has not at the beck and call of his memory a vast quantity of poetry that composes his mental library.

I look and look, / As though I could be saved simply by looking

I'm filled with admiration, delight, and gratitude at discovering James Lasdun's poems in A Jump Start. He has wit, speed, intelligence, a keen eye, precision, and imagination of a high order.