At the very beginning when I begin writing a poem I try not to think of the audience or anyone at all except for trying to get at the very center of what is driving that poem. In a way it's like analyzing myself.

It's unfortunate that sometimes in schools, there's this need to have things quantified and graded.

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

The joy of working at something to find out what it means to me is what I grew up with.

The sound of the mandolin is a very curious sound because it's cheerful and melancholy at the same time, and I think it comes from that shadow string, the double strings.

I believe people may have a predisposition for artistic creativity. It doesn't mean they're going to make it.

I think if you put something in a file that says "war poems" or "love poems" that you already restrict the way in which the poem might move.