One writes because one has been touched by the yearning for and the despair of ever touching the Other.

There are people who live inside their heads and their intellects. It's something one is born with and stuck with. It's not something you make a decision about.

Inside my empty bottle I was constructing a lighthouse while all others were making ships.

I do believe that a poem needs to remind the reader of his or her own humanity, of what they are, of what they're capable of. Awaken them, in a sense, to the fact that there's a world in front of their eyes, that they have a body, they're going to die, the sky is beautiful, it's fun to be in a grassy field when the sun is shining—those kinds of things.

Roberto Calasso's survey of the renewed interest in myth demonstrates how decisive the gods' influence was on modern literature. Calasso is not only immensely learned; he is one of the most original thinkers and writers we have today.

Found objects, chance creations, ready-mades (mass-produced items promoted into art objects, such as Duchamp's "Fountain"-urinal as sculpture) abolish the separation between art and life. The commonplace is miraculous if rightly seen.

Poetry: three mismatched shoes at the entrance of a dark alley.