I think if you put something in a file that says "war poems" or "love poems" that you already restrict the way in which the poem might move.

Poetry connects you to yourself, to the self that doesn't know how to talk or negotiate.

If the poem is so moving that even if you have no experience in that particular setting be it 1920's Harlem let's say. You still are so moved that you can put yourself in that position. That means that the writer has managed to go beyond the personal and touch the humanity in all of us and it's really a blast to read it because I realize how that this does hold true for the truly great poems.

There are times in life when, instead of complaining, you do something about your complaints.

I keep the drafts of each poem in color-coded folders. I pick up the folders according to how I feel about that color that day.

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.

Courage has nothing to do with our determination to be great. It has to do with what we decide in that moment when we are called upon to be more.