Harvard meant a lot in my writing life from the beginning, even though I didnt actually do much composition on the spot.

It is always better to avenge dear ones than to indulge in mourning. For every one of us, living in this world means waiting for our end. Let whoever can win glory before death. When a warrior is gone, that will be his best and only bulwark.

I've always associated the moment of writing with a moment of lift, of joy, of unexpected reward.

The thing about writing is that if you have the impulse, you will find the time.

Without needing to be theoretically instructed, consciousness quickly realizes that it is the site of variously contending discourses.

Memory has always been fundamental for me. In fact, remembering what I had forgotten is the way most of the poems get started.

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.