Poetry is a naked woman, a naked man, and the distance between them.

A lot of manuscripts that come in, you wonder by what outrageous fantasy the author believes that this should be pressed into print.

It's much easier to consume the visual image than to read something.

T.S. Eliot's influence was enormous on my generation. Much more than Ezra Pound. I actually had to put T.S. Eliot books out of the house because my poetry was so influenced. Everything I wrote sounded like Eliot.

We'd like to just write nothing but lyric poetry. The trouble is, the individual is going along intent on his own personal gratifications and love affairs and financial affairs and everything else. But loping alongside him is this fascist lout who keeps trying to take over. And if you keep ignoring him, he gets bigger and bigger, so every once in a while the free individual has to turn away from his private pursuits and give this fascist lout a few clouts, and beat him down to size.

Make your mind learn its way around the heart.

If you're too open-minded; your brains will fall out.