Maybe there are three or four really good poets in a generation.

I got married, other people went off. We had sort of another public-we were our entire readership for many years, and we were very excited by each other.

I don't think the nature of my poetry is satirical or even ironic, I think it's essentially lyrical but again I don't know if it's my position to say what my poetry is like.

It takes a long time to publish a book.

It's enormously cheering to get a good review by someone who seems to understand your work.

You can't be too influenced by a great poet. You simply have to live through it.

I love painting and music, of course. I don't know nearly as much about them as I know about poetry. I've certainly been influenced by fiction. I was overwhelmed by War and Peace when I read it, and I didn't read it until I was in my late 20s.