Neither of my parents has been very sensitive about my writing.

In the later books I am much more at home in the use of language to describe things. I had never thought of that until a critic pointed that out.

The best books of our times have included the three mature volumes of Philip Larkin. They're very short books of poems, and very carefully arranged.

In the late 60s and early 70s, I did get interested in voices, and in narration and embodying the voice, making the poem sound like a real person talking.

When you have an idea for a story, you want those characters to reach as many people as you can. I think you normally think of prose as a way of doing that. It fits our time, the culture.

I have taught students from the New York City area so long I have a special affinity and rapport with them. It surprises me sometimes that there are students from anywhere else.

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.