Pound's translation of Chinese poetry was maybe the most important thing I read. Eliot a little bit later.

Among the American contemporaries I read with most enjoyment are several North Carolinians. I think the best poetry being written these days is being written by Southerners.

A lot of my students are Asian-American, and it has been thrilling to watch them break through the stereotypes into something alive and surprising.

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.

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

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 love to create interesting textures with language. You can do it as long as it seems like a discovery.