One could go on revising a prose page forever whereas there is a point in a poem when one knows it is done forever.

Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.

I write poems about relationships, love relationships, and I'm not able to do that all the time. I could go two years without writing poems, and then write a dozen. Having a novel to work on, with the intricate puzzle of character and plot to work out, is satisfying for the time there is no poetry.

... love is healing, even rootless love.

“How does one grow up?” I asked a friend the other day. There was a slight pause; then she answered, “By thinking.”

instant intimacy was too often followed by disillusion.

poetry is first of all a way of life and only secondarily a way of writing.