I'm lucky enough to occasionally be able to do something I love - write poems - and unlucky enough that what I love confuses and overwhelms me.

the wasting of time is the most personal, most private, most intimate form of conversation with oneself, as well as with another.

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

I am convinced that the first lyric poem was written at night, and that the moon was witness to the event and that the event was witness to the moon. For me, the moon has always been the very embodiment of lyric poetry.

[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.

Poetry is sentimental to begin with. To write a sentimental poem is an act of redundancy.

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.