For every poet it is always morning in the world; history a forgotten, insomniac night. The fate of poetry is to fall in love with the world in spite of history.

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

I try to forget what happiness was, and when that don't work, I study the stars.

Summer for prose and lemons, for nakedness and languor.

When you get a class reciting some great poems, it'll tear your heart out.

How can I turn from Africa and live?

Any serious attempt to try to do something worthwhile is ritualistic.