A poetic list is a talent in itself. You can write a list of things, and it can be boring.

The greatest tragedy that can befall a poet is to be praised by being misunderstood.

One of the most important differences I see between prose and poetry is the music of the language.

If I'm excited by something bodily, and curious about it, I generally want to delve into it and explore it with poetry. That's the way I ordinarily watch the world around me.

Poetry uses language to create a music borne inside human experiences and emotions.

I approach writing a poem in a much different state than when I am writing prose. It's almost as if I were working in a different language when I'm writing poetry. The words - what they are and what they can become - the possibilities of the words are vastly expanded for me when I'm writing a poem.

For me, prose is never a poem. Because with prose there are so very few tools to create the music. And one of the most important tools missing is the ability to create silences, as you can in poetry by how you fashion the lines and breaks within the lines and stanzas.