I don't think the world is particularly responsive to - our world, the culture we are in, to art right now.

My heroes are people like Philip Levine, who is simply like a god to me, as a writer. And he is a very good man, too.

Never use 'submit' as a verb for sending work to magazine or book publishers; say 'offer,' and never, ever submit. Keep your knees unbent. Be brave.

I'm not a philosopher. I am the next thing to a jock, which is a novelist.

I have found myself writing poetry shortly after I retired. Which I hadn't done in forty years.

There is a lack of context in contemporary education. And contemporary consideration - because we live in those interiorities so much. Especially young kids who live by surfing the Web.

I read a lot of poetry. I read some history.