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

I would be happier if people who went through MFA programs also were already, by then, deeply committed readers of poetry because we need readers of poetry as much as writers of poetry.

It's hard to think that say Shakespeare could have written "The Tempest" when he was young. It seems to be reflective work or retrospective work.

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."

And when you are entering into poetry, whatever stage you're at, you are participating in something with a very long and noble tradition.

Reading poetry is an adventure in renewal, a creative act, a perpetual beginning, a rebirth of wonder.

I did not know the work of mourning Is a labor in the dark We carry inside ourselves