My best times are midnight to six actually. I'll leaf through my notebooks and if something catches my eye and I feel like I want to transfer it from the notebook to the page, I do, and then comes this very strange process which is difficult to describe in that I'll write until I get stuck or I can't go any further or I'm boring myself or whatever and then I might go to another poem.

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

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

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

I think children have talent and insight, but it gets beaten out of them.

Being Poet Laureate made me realize I was capable of a larger voice. There is a more public utterance I can make as a poet.

Creative writing and literacy go hand and hand.