Those who try to obliterate the past are injuring the present.

Writing poetry makes you intensely conscious of how words sound, both aloud and inside the head of the reader. You learn the weight of words and how they sound to the ear.

The human longing for story is so powerful, so primitive, that it seems like something not learned, but locked into our genes.

I was always influenced by language.

Once one habit peels away the others follow it. You have to hold on, or the next thing you'll find yourself parading down the street in your nightdress. Habit is everything.

I would like people to come into my Dreamworld and then choose to stay.

The language has got to be fully alive - I can't bear dull, flaccid writing myself and I don't see why any reader should put up with it.