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.

When I was starting to write, the great influence was T.S. Eliot and after that William Butler Yeats.

Once in awhile you have a thought, and you rhyme it.

Write what you know. That should leave you with a lot of free time.

I would talk in iambic pentameter if it were easier.

I do insist on making what I hope is sense so there's always a coherent narrative or argument that the reader can follow.

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.