I just didn't want to shoot other people.

And some poets are far better read off the page because they're very bad speakers. I'm thinking of one in particular whom I won't name, a good poet, and he reads in such a dry, boring way, your eyes start drooping.

Anybody who writes doesn't like to be misunderstood.

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

If I wrote a play with four characters every single one of them would talk like me regardless of age or sex.

Well, I love fishing. I wouldn't kill a fly myself but I've no hesitation in killing a fish. A lot of men are like that. No bother. Out you come. Thump. And that's not the only reason.

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.