I think that you certainly don't have to be aged and travel the world to write a poem.

The poetry that sustains me is when I feel that, for a minute, the clouds have parted and I've seen ecstasy or something

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

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.

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

My first advice would be to read, read, read, which sounds interesting coming in a digital age, but it's so much easier to listen to a poem than it is to sit down and actually read it and to hear it in your head and that is something that every poet or aspiring poet needs to be able to do, I think to hear it in their head.