I don't think of myself all the time.

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

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.

I don't think of myself all the time.

But you'd have a job to find many of my poems which would seem to be very influenced by a particular person.

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

A terrible thing about getting oldish is that your friends start dying, and in the last ten years I have lost seven or eight of my closest.