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.

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

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

It makes me furious to hear haters of all skin colors - especially Christian, Jewish, and Muslim fundamentalists - deride other people because of their different beliefs and lifestyles.

People write me from all over the country, asking me, and sometimes even telling me, what they think a poet laureate should do. I found that immensely valuable.

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