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I don't think poetry is something that can be taught. We can encourage young writers, but what you can't teach them is the very essence of poetry.

Well you can't teach the poetry, but you can teach the craft.

Poetry teaches us music, metaphor, condensation and specificity.

Most people who write and publish poetry teach or do something else.

My old teacher's definition of poetry is an attempt to understand.

Poetry, at its best, is the language your soul would speak if you could teach your soul to speak.

Poetry is innocent, not wise. It does not learn from experience, because each poetic experience is unique.

I believe that poetry should communicate.

When I was asked to be Writer in Residence at Edinburgh I thought, you can't teach poetry. This is ridiculous.

My father read poetry to me, encouraged me to memorize poems. But the writing of it was quite a different thing.