Distance not only gives nostalgia, but perspective, and maybe objectivity.

I don't think poetry is something that can be taught. We can encourage young writers, but what you can't teach them is the very essence of poetry.

A poem in form still has to have voice, gesture, a sense of discovery, a metaphoric connection, as any poetry does.

One of the most powerful devices of poetry is the use of distortions. You can go from talking about the way a minute passes to the way a century passes, or a lifetime.

Fiction is about intimacy with characters, events, places.

In the best fiction, the language itself can become almost invisible.

We have a lot of long narrative poems written in the 20th century, but they're not very well known, and they're not read by very many people.