I like to use simple words, but in a complicated way.

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

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

How would you prepare to die on a perfect April evening?

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.

Time hates love, wants love poor,/but love spins gold, gold, gold from straw.

I grew up in a bookless house - my parents didn't read poetry, so if I hadn't had the chance to experience it at school I'd never have experienced it. But I loved English, and I was very lucky in that I had inspirational English teachers, Miss Scriven and Mr. Walker, and they liked us to learn poems by heart, which I found I loved doing.