How weightless/ words are when nothing will do.

My mother carried on and supported us; her ambition had been to write poetry and songs.

Listen to these young poets and you'll discover the voice of the present and hear the voice of the future before the future is even here.

I'm seventy-one now, so it's hard to imagine a dramatic change.

But I'm too old to be written about as a young poet.

Corruption is subtle, just like the Bible said. Many young poets have come to me and asked, How am I gonna make it? They feel, and often with considerable justice, that they are being overlooked while others with less talent are out there making careers for themselves. I always give the same advice. I say, Do it the hard way, and you’ll always feel good about yourself. You write because you have to, and you get this unbelievable satisfaction from doing it well. Try to live on that as long as you’re able.

Now I must wait and be still and say nothing I don't know, nothing I haven't lived over and over, and that's everything.