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.

Your average pop song or film is a very sophisticated item, with very sophisticated ways of listening and viewing that we have not really consciously developed over the years - because we were having such a good time

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.

Obviously one of the things that poets from Northern Ireland and beyond - had to try to make sense of was what was happening on a day-to-day political level.

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.

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

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