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

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

I encourage students to pursue an idea far enough so they can see what the cliches and stereotypes are. Only then do they begin to hit pay dirt.

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

Fiction is about intimacy with characters, events, places.

The young people have MTV and rock and roll. Why would they go to read poetry? Poetry belongs to the Stone Age. It awakens in us perceptions that go back to those times.

What actually makes poetry poetry is of course impossible to define. We recognize it when we hear it, when we see it, but we can't define it.