The gift of writing is to be self-forgetful...

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

Hope for a great sea-change timid to rebuke and too petty to forgive.

If self is a location, so is love.

When I was teaching, I gave a lot of my mind and anxiety to it. There was always something clenched and anxious in me until the classes were over.

I suppose I'm saying that defiance is actually part of the lyric job

I credit poetry for making this space-walk possible.