Yes, the mistrust of poetry has a long history, for a variety of reasons, but they all come down to sentiment and invention over fact and truth. Figurative language is suspicious.

Art has always been aware of itself as art.

It is the first experience you ever had of reading a decent poem: 'Oh, somebody else is lonely, too!

A poem is a neutrino - mainly nothing - it has no mass and can pass through the earth undetected.

In the end I would rather wonder than know

[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.

The words secret and sacred are siblings.