All of our great traditions, religious, contemplative and artistic, say that you must a learn how to be alone - and have a relationship with silence. It is difficult, but it can start with just the tiniest quiet moment.

Whether we stay or whether we go - to be courageous is to stay close to the way we are made.

A good poem looks life straight in the face, unflinching, sincere, equal to revelation through loss or gain.

Silence is like a cradle holding our endeavors and our will; a silent spaciousness sustains us in our work and at the same time connects us to larger worlds that, in the busyness of our daily struggle to achieve, we have not yet investigated. Silence is the soul's break for freedom.

The fear of loss, in one form or another, is the motivator behind all conscious and unconscious dishonesties.

Poetry is a street fighter. It has sharp elbows. It can look after itself. Poetry can't be used for manipulation; it's why you never see good poetry in advertising.

If in your mind it was possible to take a year's sabbatical from work to reassess your life, what would you do and where would you go?