This is the first, wildest, and wisest thing I know, that the soul exists, and that it is built entirely out of attention.

As long as you're dancing, you can break the rules.

Still, what I want in my life is to be willing to be dazzled-to cast aside the weight of facts and maybe even to float a little above this difficult world. I want to believe I am looking into the white fire of a great mystery. I want to believe that the imperfections are nothing-that the light is everything-that it is more than the sum of each flawed blossom rising and fading. And I do.

The challenge is to keep up with all the new poets at the same time I love the old ones.

Joy is not made to be a crumb. (Don't Hesitate)

Poetry is a life-cherishing force.

When it's over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms. When it is over, I don't want to wonder if I have made of my life something particular, and real. I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened, or full of argument. I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.