A great model for this is the way that Dante calls on Virgil at the beginning of 'The Inferno,' 'The Divine Comedy,' to help guide him through the underworld.

I think that the dark side of MFA programs is that they're generating more poets than the culture can absorb and there are more people writing poetry than possibly read it or can certainly earn a living around it.

But, something has to be worked through formally as well as emotionally. Now, when those two things come together I've got something, I think, that I can be proud of.

I think the culture can absorb so many people writing poetry and trying to earn their living in poetry.

But, the best times I have found, in my life, are late at night or early in the morning and I think it's because you're outside the social realm.

The way to become a poet is to read poetry and to imitate what you read and to read passionately and widely and in as involved a way as you can.

Emily Dickinson calls previous poets her kinsmen of the shelf. You can always be consoled by your kinsmen of the shelf and you can participate in poetry by going to them and by trying to make something worthy of them.