It's the combination of the intimate and the public that I find so exciting about being poet laureate.

My favorite poets may not be your bread and butter. I have more favorite poems than favorite poets.

In working on a poem, I love to revise. Lots of younger poets don't enjoy this, but in the process of revision I discover things

The library is an arena of possibility, opening both a window into the soul and a door onto the world.

I've always been intrigued by the way history works, the way we decide what is mentioned.

If only the sun-drenched celebrities are being noticed and worshiped, then our children are going to have a tough time seeing the value in the shadows, where the thinkers, probers and scientists are keeping society together.

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