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.

The poets needed to learn to pay greater attention to character and to narrative.

I just think that limits the kinds of experiences that people can have with poetry. But, poetry will survive; I don't worry about that. But, I do think that it may save fewer souls if people can't pay attention.

A certain construct of emotions that really define who you are and who you will become and I feel very much that my childhood is very alive inside of me, very close to me, very much part of me. And it's a sometimes painful, sometimes joyous inexhaustible resource for poetry.

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

That is many poets don't know how to tell a story and they don't have a sense of how to put things in order to tell a story and we thought the poets could learn from fiction writers something about developing a character over time who wasn't just you and also creating a narrative structure.