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.

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

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.

Learn the rules, break the rules, make up new rules, break the new rules.

The war to preserve the privilege of mythmaking

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

A nation's art is the expression of its soul.