Only I wasn't steering anything, not even myself.

I do feel that now and I feel that this development of recording poems, of speaking poems at readings, of having records of poets, I think this is a wonderful thing. I'm very excited by it. In a sense, there's a return, isn't there, to the old role of the poet, which was to speak to a group of people, to come across.

I, love, I am the pure acetylene virgin attended by roses.

When you give someone your whole heart and he doesn't want it, you cannot take it back. It's gone forever.

I feel that very strongly: having been an academic, having been tempted by the invitation to stay on to become a Ph.D., a professor, and all that, one side of me certainly does respect all disciplines, as long as they don't ossify.

But life is long. And it is the long run that balances the short flare of interest and passion.

I dream too much, work too little.