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.

Hope is not optimism, which expects things to turn out well, but something rooted in the conviction that there is good worth working for.

Yet there are times when a deeper need enters, when we want the poem to be not only pleasurably right but compellingly wise, not only a surprising variation played upon the world, but a re-tuning of the world itself.

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.

In off the moors, down through the mist beams, god-cursed Grendel came greedily loping.

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

I don't miss teaching. I'm learning to take my time for myself.