But tomorrow, dawn will come the way I picture her, barefoot and disheveled, standing outside my window in one of the fragile cotton dresses of the poor. She will look in at me with her thin arms extended, offering a handful of birdsong and a small cup of light.

I think clarity is the real risk in poetry because you are exposed. You're out in the open field. You're actually saying things that are comprehensible, and it's easy to criticize something you can understand.

I always think W.S. Merwin's poems will last of anyone writing today. If I had to bet on posterity I would bet Merwin. My poems could easily evaporate. So I don't know. If you find yourself as a writer thinking about posterity you should probably go out for a brisk walk or something.

One of these days I'm-a make me a book out of you.

A motto I've adopted is, if at first you don't succeed, hide all evidence that you ever tried.

life is a loaded gun that looks right at you with a yellow eye.

I think the pleasure of form is that you have a companion with you besides all the poetry you have ever read.