The point of poetry is to be acutely discomforting, to prod and provoke, to poke us in the eye, to punch us in the nose, to knock us off our feet, to take our breath away.

It's not as if I'm trying to write crossword puzzles to which one might find an answer at the back of the book or anything like that.

I live in New Jersey now, which always gets a bad rap here and there, but I must say, I enjoy living here too

That's one of the great things about poetry; one realises that one does one's little turn - that you're just part of the great crop, as it were.

I suppose for whatever reason I actively welcome being put down, something which perhaps goes back to my upbringing - that accusation of not being worthy which could be laid at one's door.

Frost isn’t exactly despised but not enough people have worked out what a brilliant poet he was.

Last year I was a judge for a prize in England, the T.S. Eliot Prize, so I read everything that was published in England last year.