If we’re going to solve the problems of the world, we have to learn how to talk to one another. Poetry is the language at its essence. It’s the bones and the skeleton of the language. It teaches you, if nothing else, how to choose your words.

It really wasn't until I was in college when I began to write more and more, and I realized I was scheduling my entire life around my writing

I see a resurgence of interest in poetry. I am less optimistic about the prospects for the arts when it comes to federal funding.

I always loved science. And in fact, I got a science award in high school. I mean, I loved science, but I think I loved literature more.

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.

A good poem is like a bouillon cube. It's concentrated and it nourishes you when you need it.

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.