Quote

I love poetry; it's my primary literary interest, and I suppose the kind of reading you do when you are reading poems - close reading - can carry over into how you read other things.

I write poetry anyway and have for years and years. For me, putting fiction and poetry together is like the best of both worlds.

Poetry is what I've done my whole life. And every important thing in my life had found itself into poems.

I've been surprised to learn how many people love poetry. It's beautiful to see that people want poetry in their lives.

Poetry is fascinating. As soon as it begins the poetry has changed the thing into something extra, and somehow prose can go over into poetry.

On a practical level, poetry isn't something anybody has really made a great living at. I might sell some books and, once in a while, someone might pay to hear me read.

I don't think anybody reads a book of poetry front to back. Editors and reviewers only. I don't think anybody else does.

I've written poetry since I was a kid. As the years went on, I got into writing stories and screenplays, but I always, always kept up with poetry as well.

A great many people seem to think writing poetry is worthwhile, even though it pays next to nothing and is not as widely read as it should be.

I never thought I'd be doing poetry books. I never really studied poetry. But the first one I did was after my mother died, and I realized that people sort of think and talk about her style and fashion, but in fact, what made her the person she was was really her love of reading and ideas.