When I go fishing I like to know that there's nobody within five miles of me.
From Norman MacCaig
All I write about is what's happened to me and to people I know, and the better I know them, the more likely they are to be written about.
And in a way, that's been a help to me, because I take great passions for a particular poet - sometimes it lasts for many years, sometimes only for a while. This happens to everybody.
And the second question, can poetry be taught? I didn't think so.
But I hang on to books. I love them. I even think they're very nice decor in a room - far better than paintings... That's not quite true!
However, I learned something. I thought that if the young person, the student, has poetry in him or her, to offer them help is like offering a propeller to a bird.
I don't think of myself all the time.
I find it's impossible for me to read Proust.
I only keep books that I like very much. Otherwise I'd throw them out.
It's like breathing in and out to me. It's like having a conversation with someone who isn't there. Because it has to be addressed to somebody - not a particular person, or very rarely.
6 perspectives
4 perspectives
3 perspectives
1 perspectives