I have never separated the writing of poetry from prayer. I have grown up believing it is a vocation, a religious vocation.

I too saw the wooden horse blocking the stars.

Time is the metre, memory the only plot.

If you know what you are going to write when you're writing a poem, it's going to be average.

We make too much of that long groan which underlines the past.

The mirror is believed the way a poem is believed. It's believed because it's there.

Americans are not brought up with meter. They're not brought up with poetry. If you try to get them to recite, they're too embarrassed.