I always believed that whatever had to be written would somehow get itself written.

Strange, it is a huge nothing that we fear.

A public expectation, it has to be said, not of poetry as such but of political positions variously approvable by mutually disapproving groups.

Part of my gradual education of myself has been to think that there is a deep relationship between the nature of the creature and the worth of the art.

I felt implicated in American affairs.Outraged at the blatant lies about Iraqs involvement in al Qaeda, at the regimes arrogance and stupidity, Guantnamo Bay and all the rest of it. But the poems at the start of District and Circle Anahorish 1944, The Aerodromearent particularly aimed as criticism. On the contrary, there's a recognition of the big contribution to world order made in Europe during World War II.

The poems I did write there [in Harvard] include Alphabets the 1984 Phi Beta Kappa poem and A Sofa in the Forties. And, of course, the John Harvard poem for the 350th anniversary Villanelle for an Anniversary.

Whether it be a matter of personal relations within a marriage or political initiatives within a peace process, there is no sure-fire do-it-yourself kit.