I always wanted a child. Being a mother is the central thing in my life.

Every day is a gift with a child, no matter what problems you have.

When you have a child, your previous life seems like someone else's. It's like living in a house and suddenly finding a room you didn't know was there, full of treasure and light.

The moment of inspiration can come from memory, or language, or the imagination, or experience - anything that makes an impression forcibly enough for language to form.

Auden said poetry makes nothing happen. But I wonder if the opposite could be true. It could make something happen.

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.

What will you do now with the gift of your left life?