Men use women sexually. They use them, mistreat them, even from the point of view of vocabulary, the use of words. It baffles me.

I think the obligation of a poet is not to be in an ivory tower; it is not to be isolated but to be among people.

Prizes aren't essential. What is essential is poetry itself, it's what is said, it is clarity, it's loyalty, those are the essential values, the literary values.

People ask me almost every day, "Why? You are successful, you have kids, you have grandchildren, so why?" Feminist women are seen as unsatisfied. But all women in the world, if they are well aware of inequality, are unsatisfied women. They don't have the same rights as men, and there is no freedom until there is equality between men and women.

Men use women sexually. They use them, mistreat them, even from the point of view of vocabulary, the use of words. It baffles me.

I think that if poetry is not a personal act, it's a pamphlet.

My erotic poetry is not poetry that uses vernacular words. It is a very erotic poetry, but I never use anything, for example, that is not in the dictionary. I don't like to be ugly, I seek out what is beautiful, and if my great search is for freedom and beauty, I can't be vulgar, ordinary.