Seven to eleven is a huge chunk of life, full of dulling and forgetting. It is fabled that we slowly lose the gift of speech with animals, that birds no longer visit our windowsills to converse. As our eyes grow accustomed to sight they armor themselves against wonder.

I don't think you can write novels on the road. You need a certain stability.

Well, you know, there's depression and depression. What I mean by depression in my own case is that depression isn't just the blues. It's not just like I have a hangover in the weekend ... the girl didn't show up or something like that. It isn't that. It's not really depression, it's a kind of mental violence which stops you from functioning properly from one moment to the next. You lose something somewhere and suddenly you're gripped by a kind of angst of the heart and of the spirit.

Only in Canada could somebody with a voice like mine win 'Vocalist of the Year'.

The duty of lovers is to tarnish the Golden Rule

If your life is a leaf that the seasons tear off and condemn they will bind you with love that is graceful and green as a stem.

I alwaysthought of myself as a competent, minor poet. I know who I'm up against.