But I tend to think of the expressive part of me as rather tedious – never curious or responsive, but blind and self-serving.

And Robert Lowell, of course – in his poems, we’re not located in his actual life. We’re located more in the externals, in the journalistic facts of his life.

From the reader’s view, a poem is more demanding than prose.

I certainly can’t speak for all cultures or all societies, but it’s clear that in America, poetry serves a very marginal purpose. It’s not part of the cultural mainstream.

It’s very hard to write humor.

I tend to like poems that engage me – that is to say, which do not bore me.

Poetry is, first and last, language – the rest is filler.

There’s a certain point, when you’re writing autobiographical stuff, where you don’t want to misrepresent yourself. It would be dishonest.

I think the best American poetry is the poetry that utilizes the resources of poetry rather than exploits the defects or triumphs of the poet’s personality.

If every head of state and every government official spent an hour a day reading poetry we’d live in a much more humane and decent world.