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

Instead of trying to come up and pontificate on what literature is, you need to talk with children, to teachers, and make sure they get poetry in the curriculum early.

To me, a poem is almost like someone whispering to another person, or you hear the whispering in your head. I hope with my own poems that the reader feels a connection, soul to soul, that'll help us all feel a little less alone on the planet. And it does have the power to direct change. A writer can make the word 'dark' be something positive. You can relieve a word like 'hysterical' of its misogynistic implications. You can make the language your own. That's what poetry is about.

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

There are distinct duties of a poet laureate. I plan a reading series at the Library of Congress and advise the librarian. The rest is how I want to promote poetry

The poetry that sustains me is when I feel that, for a minute, the clouds have parted and I've seen ecstasy or something

There are times in life when, instead of complaining, you do something about your complaints.