If you like the precision and concision of poetry, a page of prose is unsatisfying in a certain way. And poetry is so direct.

A poem needs imaginative rhythms as well as imaginative transformation of content.

I like art history and art criticism. Leo Steinberg has always been my favorite. Hes very original, very accurate and acute.

The non-artists among us are always terribly busy, but finally disappear without a trace.

All good poets of the past, almost without exception, were at least bilingual if not trilingual.

There are not many poets whose fame rests on a single work.

For the critic, criticism is a form of natural self-expression, as poetry is to the poet. So, for a critic, criticism is a true thing. Criticism isn’t written for poets, it’s written for other readers. One hopes it is true for other readers if it’s true for oneself.