First of all I think that poetry is very noble and I always have with me the sense of the nobility of poetry.

I think it shapes it in very deep ways that you don't entirely understand. Rainer Maria Rilke said there are two inexhaustible sources for poetry. One is dreams, and the other is childhood. I think childhood is an inexhaustible source of your becoming who you will be and certain deep feelings are set inside of you.

I think that as long as you have other poets before you and that you can learn from them, then it's always open ended for you.

And when my second book had come out, "Wild Gratitude," I went to Pearl London's class and she worked through different drafts of poems and there were the drafts of my poem, "Wild Gratitude," and I saw that I had begun the poem with the title "August 13th."

Now, the process of writing poetry is very messy. Not systematic, never quite the same

I would keep in mind to a young poet that you are entering into something that is very important, that has always been important in terms of human concerns.

I don't think poetry will die, but I think that poetry does demand a certain kind of attention to language.