I think that when a poem can move readers across generations and across its specific class or race then it becomes truly classic.

When I was young, I was older than I am today.

In fact, sometimes traveling the world is a way of not writing a poem, but it's the quality of experience. It's being able to experience something and when you begin to write about it be able to apply the tools that you need for writing.

I didn't know writers could be real live people, because I never knew any writers.

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

I prefer to explore the most intimate moments, the smaller, crystallized details we all hinge our lives on.

Have you ever heard a good joke? If you've ever heard someone just right, with the right pacing, then you're already on the way to poetry. It's about using words in very precise ways and using gesture.