It's terrible to know that no matter how you try to help your child, his condition will worsen.

I have been, earlier in my life, a lazy writer. I'd spend three hours at the gym to avoid writing, or I'd just find other distractions - reading, doing laundry, talking on the phone, etc. But suddenly I was like a laser beam: I was relentlessly focused, sometimes to the detriment of other things.

Think of how much we stress about living up to our "potential," and how it creates anxiety and terror in people; in short, stops them from living their life as fully as they might out of fear and self-loathing.

I think it's more important to concentrate on trying to be, simply, happy. Once you've known deep despair, you feel even more motivated to be as happy as possible. That's how I feel.

I do believe that great love brings with it the terror and possibility of great loss.

I honestly turned to writing because I didn't know what else to do, and because a friend had gently suggested it.

I write one poem a year, usually in January or February.