I think there's one thing which distinguishes our art - we don't consider. We don't think. We write a little verse because it comes to us.

Both poet and painter want to reach the silence behind the language, the silence within the language. Both painter and poet want their work to shine not only in daylight but (by whatever illusionist magic) from within.

Occasionally a student writer comes up with something really beautiful and moving, and you won't know for years if it was an accident or the first burst of something wonderful.

I would talk in iambic pentameter if it were easier.

Robert Frost had always said you mustn't think of the last line first, or it's only a fake poem, not a real one. I'm inclined to agree.

I think there's one thing which distinguishes our art - we don't consider. We don't think. We write a little verse because it comes to us.

When you write it doesn't occur to you that somebody could think different from what you do.