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

I write short stories, and I wrote a play.

Have you ever heard a good joke? If you've ever heard someone just right, with the right pacing, then you're already on the way to poetry. It's about using words in very precise ways and using gesture.

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

I was appointed Poet Laureate. It came totally out of the blue because most Poet Laureates had been considerably older than I. It was not something that I even had begun to dream about!

Without imagination we can go nowhere. And imagination is not restricted to the arts. Every scientist I have met who has been a success has had to imagine.

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