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.

If the poem has no obvious destination, there's a chance that we'll be all setting off on an interesting ride.

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.

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.

What I try to do is to go into a poem - and one writes them, of course, poem by poem - to go into each poem, first of all without having any sense whatsoever of where it's going to end up

Living at that pitch, on that edge, is something which many poets engage in to some extent.

I certainly am interested in accessibility, clarity, and immediacy.