Don't write with a pen. Ink tends to give the impression the words shouldn't be changed.

Don't write with a pen. Ink tends to give the impression the words shouldn't be changed.

To write a poem you must have a streak of arrogance-- not in real life I hope. In real life try to be nice. It will save you a hell of a lot of trouble and give you more time to write.

A poet is seldom hard up for advice. The worst part of it all is that sometimes the advice is coming from other poets, and they ought to know better.

You owe reality nothing and the truth about your feelings everything.

Scholars look for final truths they will never find. Creative writers concern themselves with possibilities that are always there to the receptive.

...an imagined town is at least as real as an actual town. If it isn't, you may be in the wrong business. Our words come from obsessions we must submit to, whatever the social cost. It can be hard. It can be worse forty years from now if you feel you could have done it and didn't. It is narcissistic, vain, egotistical, unrealistic, selfish, and hateful to assume emotional ownership of a town or a word. It is also essential.