each new poem is partly propelled by the formal energies of all the poems that have preceded it in the history of literature.

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.

How slowly one comes to understand anything!

For me the moral dilemma this past year has been how to make peace with the unacceptable.

One must think like a hero to behave like a merely decent human being.

...I feel more alive when I'm writing than I do at any other time--except when I'm making love. Two things when you forget time, when nothing exists except the moment--the moment of writing, the moment of love. That perfect concentration is bliss.

I sometimes imagine that as one grows older one comes to live a role which as a young person one merely 'played.