I think that it's more likely that in my 60s and 70s I will be writing poetry rather than fiction.

I learned to impersonate the kind of person that talks about poetry. It comes from teaching, I think.

I considered going to film school; I took a course in film and was very interested in filmmaking as well as film writing.

The Black Mountain poet I like most is the early Creeley. Those early poems seem very lyrical and very traditional, with a lot of voice and character.

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.

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

I don't think American poetry has gotten any better in the past 35 years. Oddly enough, creative writing programs seem to have been good for fiction, and I would not have predicted that.