I think reading Shakespeare's plays when I was young was extremely important. He had the ability to make utter strangers come alive.

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

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.

Everybody who's anybody longs to be a tree.

From the time I began to read, as a child, I loved to feel their heft in my hand and the warm spot caused by their intimate weight in my lap; I loved the crisp whisper of a page turning, the musky odor of old paper and the sharp inky whiff of new pages. Leather bindings sent me into ecstasy. I even loved to gaze at a closed book and daydream about the possibilities inside.

What's a word, a talisman, to hold against the world?

Creative writing and literacy go hand and hand.