To practice your scales, so to speak, in order play the symphony, is what you have to do as a young poet.

I try to show what it is about language and music that enthralls, because I think those are the two elements of poetry.

Under adversity, under oppression, the words begin to fail, the easy words begin to fail. In order to convey things accurately, the human being is almost forced to find the most precise words possible, which is a precondition for literature.

It's unfortunate that sometimes in schools, there's this need to have things quantified and graded.

Listen how they say your name. If they can't say that right, there's no way they're going to know how to treat you proper, neither.

I never think of my audience when I write a poem. I try to write out of whatever is haunting me; in order for a poem to feel authentic, I have to feel I'm treading on very dangerous ground, which can mean that the resulting revelations may prove hurtful to other people. The time for thinking about that kind of guilt or any collective sense of responsibility, however, occurs much later in the creative process, after the poem is finished.

I think reading Shakespeare's plays when I was young was extremely important. He had the ability to make utter strangers come alive.