It is necessary now and then for a man to go away by himself and experience loneliness; to sit on a rock in the forest and to ask of himself, 'Who am I, and where have I been, and where am I going?'...If one is not careful, one allows diversions to take up one's time-the stuff of life

Poetry is the opening and closing of a door, leaving those who look through to guess about what is seen during the moment.

Poetry is statement of a series of equations, with numbers and symbols changing like the changes of mirrors, pools, skies, the only never-changing sign being the sign of infinity.

There was always the consolation that if I didn't like what I wrote I could throw it away or burn it.

There are people who want to be everywhere at once, and they get nowhere

Poetry is the report of a nuance between two moments, when people say, 'Listen!' and 'Did you see it?' 'Did you hear it? What was it?'

I'll die propped up in bed trying to do a poem about America.