But if you do know what is taught by plants and weather, you are in on the gossip and can feel truly at home. The sum of a field's forces [become] what we call very loosely the 'spirit of the place.' To know the spirit of a place is to realize that you are a part of a part and that the whole is made or parts, each of which in a whole. You start with the part you are whole in.

A great poet does not express his or her self; he expresses all of our selves.

A reading is a kind of communion. The poet articulates the semi-known for the tribe.

True affluence is not needing anything.

I try to hold both history and wilderness in mind, that my poems may the true measure of things and stand against the unbalance and ignorance of our times.

All that we did was human, stupid, easily forgiven, Not quite right.

Find your place on the planet. Dig in, and take responsibility from there.