If I begin writing a poem that means I'm intrigued in some way by whatever it's about and that if I'm not trying to find something new and pushing the envelope in the poem I can't expect my reader to be particularly excited about it either.

My favorite poets may not be your bread and butter. I have more favorite poems than favorite poets.

Listen how they say your name. If they can't say that right, there's no way they're going to know how to treat you proper, neither.

It's the combination of the intimate and the public that I find so exciting about being poet laureate.

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.

To write for PC reasons, because you think you ought to be dealing with this subject, is never going to yield anything that is really going to matter to anyone else. It has to matter to you.

For years, I had heard about the lack of interest in literature in the U.S. and I had complained about the lack of respect artists got here. In my heart, I failed to understand how people could fail to be moved by art.