When I talk of hearing a poet's voice speaking, I always think of it as in the presence of the man.

People haven't got the interest in long long works these days. A lack of interest which I share.

There are some friends you don't meet for twenty years and when you meet them again it's as if no twenty years has happened - you're lucky when that happens. I feel the same about books.

I never think about poetry except when I'm writing it. I mean my poetry.

Anybody who writes doesn't like to be misunderstood.

All those authors there, most of whom of course I've never met. That's the poetry side, that's the prose side, that's the fishing and miscellaneous behind me. You get an affection for books that you've enjoyed.

I used to have a great love for Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy, the big boys of the last century.