Quote

I was appointed Poet Laureate. It came totally out of the blue because most Poet Laureates had been considerably older than I. It was not something that I even had begun to dream about!

People write me from all over the country, asking me, and sometimes even telling me, what they think a poet laureate should do. I found that immensely valuable.

There are distinct duties of a poet laureate. I plan a reading series at the Library of Congress and advise the librarian. The rest is how I want to promote poetry.

I'd like to be the ambassador to the Bahamas.

It's the combination of the intimate and the public that I find so exciting about being poet laureate.

I would want to travel the world and write about it. To be a famous writer.

As poet laureate, I was asked to be a spokesman for literature.

I'd kill to be a poet.