No voice comes from outer space, from the folds of dust and carpets of wind to tell us that this is the way it was meant to happen, that if only we knew how long the ruins would last we would never complain.

The burial of feelings has begun.

If every head of state and every government official spent an hour a day reading poetry we'd live in a much more humane and decent world.

We’re only here for a short while. And I think it’s such a lucky accident, having been born, that we’re almost obliged to pay attention.

The number of people writing poems is vast, and their reasons for doing so are many, that much can be surmised from the stacks of submissions.

And Robert Lowell, of course - in his poems, we're not located in his actual life. We're located more in the externals, in the journalistic facts of his life.

Sometimes he did not know if he slept or just thought about sleep.