The writing of a poem is, for me, in the first place, an almost total act of abandon leading to discovery leading to recognition.

Much of our lives involves the word “no.” In school we are mostly told, “Don't do it this way. Do it that way.” But art is the big yes. In art, you get a chance to make something where there was nothing.

I'm partial to coffee shops, brain work, and poems on the page. I write after midnight. Sometimes, twisty syntax happens, and I surrender.

Our job is to become more and more of what we are. The growth of a poet seems to be related to his or her becoming less and less embarrassed about more and more.

Poetry is the least imposition on silence in a world of chatter.

The writing of a poem is, for me, in the first place, an almost total act of abandon leading to discovery leading to recognition.

Prose is prose because of what it includes; poetry is poetry because of what it leaves out.