I returned to poetry as a more precise way to describe the world, more precise than science.

The great poems are not about experience, but are the experience itself, felt in the body.

Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into the conversation. The kettle is singing even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots have left their arrogant aloofness and seen the good in you at last. All the birds and creatures of the world are unutterably themselves. Everything is waiting for you.

It's my contention that there is no sincere path a human being can take without breaking his or her heart...so it can be a lovely, merciful thing to think, 'Actually, there is no path I can take without having my heart broken, so why not get on with it and stop wanting these extra-special circumstances which stop me from doing something courageous?'

The marvelous thing about a good question is that it shapes our identity as much by the asking as it does by the answering.

I believe that human beings are desperate, always, to belong to something larger than themselves.

When I recite poems onstage, I put myself into the very personal struggle and it grants tremendous perspective. At the same time you get another perspective on the poem you're reciting.