The fact that something is in a rhymed form or in blank verse will not make it good poetry.

Part of what we love about poetry is the fact that it seems ancient, that it has an authority of ancient language and ancient form, and that it's timeless, that it reaches back.

I did not have a very literary background. I came to poetry from the sciences and mathematics, and also through an interest in Japanese and Chinese poetry in translation.

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

If a poem is not memorable, there's probably something wrong. One of the problems of free verse is that much of the free verse poetry is not memorable.

Maybe the example of Southern fiction writing has been so powerful that Southern poets have sort of keyed themselves to that.

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.