The reality of a poem is a very ghostly one. It suggests, it suggests, it suggests again.

And yet, in a culture like ours, which is given to material comforts, and addicted to forms of entertainment that offer immediate gratification, it is surprising that so much poetry is written.

To open the dictionary of the Beyond and discover what one suspected, that the only word in it is nothing.

I tend to like poems that engage me - that is to say, which do not bore me.

I have been eating poetry.

A great many people seem to think writing poetry is worthwhile, even though it pays next to nothing and is not as widely read as it should be.

Poems not only demand patience, they demand a kind of surrender. You must give yourself up to them. This is the real food for a poet: other poems, not meat loaf.