I still read Donne, particularly his love poems

I think the dangers are different now. Our abuse of the planet and our resources is an anxiety.

Poets deal in writing about feelings and trying to find the language and images for intense feelings.

Better off dead than giving in; not taking what you want.

If I felt, in the event of a royal wedding, inspired to write about people coming together in marriage or civil partnership, I would just be grateful to have an idea for the poem. And if I didn't, I'd ignore it.

My prose is turgid, it just hasn't got any energy

I see the shape of the poem before I start writing, and the writing is just the process of arriving at the shape.