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.

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.

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

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

Try to write poems at least one person in the room will hate.

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.