The heft of a life in the hands grows both lighter and weightier. Over time, my life has become more saturated with its shape and made-ness, while my poems have become more and more free. The first word of every poem might be "Yes." The next words: "And then."

Poetry's work is not simply the recording of inner or outer perception; it makes by words and music new possibilities of perceiving

A poem makes clear without making simple. Poetry's language carries what lives outside language. It's as if you were given a 5-gallon bucket with 10 gallons of water in it. Mysterious thirsts are answered. That alchemical bucket carries secrets also, even the ones we keep from ourselves.

Houses are fundamental metaphors for self, world, permeability, transition, interiority, exteriority, multiplicity, and the power to move from one state of being to another.

How fine is the mesh of death. You can almost see through it.

as some strings, untouched, sound when no one is speaking. So it was when love slipped inside us.

A poem can use anything to talk about anything.