Works of art imitate and provoke other works of art, the process is the source of art itself.

One, something emotional has to be at stake. There has to be something important for me that I'm writing about. And then two, I have to have a formal idea. Something has to be being worked out in poetry.

I think that's a connection that you can only hope for. It's not something that you can make because it needs someone else.

Fiction writers learn about the development of metaphor, the use of rhythm, the way that language is compacted in order to express the feelings of - express their own feelings and the feelings of their characters.

You're alone with yourself and your own feelings and that gives you deeper access to what you need to get in touch with to write poetry.

I think it's true that that's something that poetry can go to school on fiction. I think poetry can go to fiction to learn.

Books and newspapers assume a "common reader" that is, a person who knows the things known by other literate persons in the culture. Obviously, such assumptions are never identical from writer to writer, but they show a remarkable consistency