I'm sure 50 percent of television ads use rhyme

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.

On the other hand, at some level the mass of unresolved issues in Northern Ireland does influence the fact that there are so many good writers in the place.

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

Words want to find chimes with each other, things want to connect.

I do a lot of readings.

Form is a straitjacket in the way that a straitjacket was a straitjacket for Houdini.