I carry a notebook with me everywhere. But that's only the first step.

I've always felt that the poems I've written which have historical context are hopefully not just simply plucking something out of history and saying great, let's write about that. In every case what has happened is that I've become fascinated or haunted by something and couldn't shake it.

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

You have to imagine it possible before you can see something. You can have the evidence right in front of you, but if you can't imagine something that has never existed before, it's impossible.

Can it be that even as one grows to fit the space one lives in, one cannot grow until there's space to grow?

Everybody who's anybody longs to be a tree.

My childhood library was small enough not to be intimidating. And yet I felt the whole world was contained in those two rooms. I could walk any aisle and smell wisdom.