Technology sounds quick and easy, but it ends up taking up too much of your time.

Sometimes you get lit students that know a lot about the canon but virtually nothing about contemporary poetry and vice versa. I like to mix things up.

In a machine, every part has a function. In a poem, every word needs to be there.

It's my experience that people write better when they feel at ease and free to experiment, rather than being in a competitive, hypercritical atmosphere. There are always a few students who want me to be tough or harsh, but it's really not my style.

I like to look at the interface between words and pictures and wonder about which comes first, a sort of chicken-or-egg type of question.

In order for poetry to exist there has to be not-poetry to contrast it with.

The inner and outer, the visible and invisible, the abstract and concrete - you've got to get the balance right (not that I do, but it's something to aim for).