Now I will give you a piece of advice. I will tell you something that I absolutely believe you should do, and if you do not do it you will never be a witer. It is a certain truth. When your pencil is dull, sharpen it. And when your pencil is sharp, use it until it is dull again.

[On filling out a grant application:] I seek an extended period of time, free from all distractions, so that I might be free to be distracted.

Words have a love for each other, a desire that culminates in poetry.

We are all one question, and the best answer seems to be love—a connection between things.

in the beginning William Shakespeare was a baby, and knew absolutely nothing. He couldn't even speak.

My happiness is marred only by my failure to attain it.

If you have any idea for a poem, an exact grid of intent, you are on the wrong path, a dead-end alley, at the top of a cliff you haven't even climbed. This is a lesson that can only be learned by trial and error.