I only keep books that I like very much. Otherwise I'd throw them out.

And in a way, that's been a help to me, because I take great passions for a particular poet - sometimes it lasts for many years, sometimes only for a while. This happens to everybody.

It's like breathing in and out to me. It's like having a conversation with someone who isn't there. Because it has to be addressed to somebody - not a particular person, or very rarely.

All I write about is what's happened to me and to people I know, and the better I know them, the more likely they are to be written about.

I used to fish the Border rivers, but nowadays you have to queue up for a shot and I can't stand that.

I don't think of myself all the time.

And the second question, can poetry be taught? I didn't think so.