Coyote hunting can’t be justified on the basis of the damage they do. Shooting coyotes is really just fun, a man with a high-powered rifle trying to see if he can kill a frightened creature that can’t shoot back.

There’s nothing wrong with delighting in what you do. In fact, most of the fun you’ll have as a poet will come about during the process of writing.

Wisdom is easy to carry but difficult to load.

I like the idea of there being times when even words cost so much you used them sparingly. I have known a lot of old men and women who talked as if they were paying Western Union by the word.

Turtle has just one plan at a time, and every cell buys into it.

It is all around us, free, this wonderful life: clear jingle of tire chains, the laughter of ice that breaks under our boots. Each hour’s a gift to those who take it up.

I farm a little plot of things to say, with not much frontage on the busy road.

There are mornings when everything brims with promise, even my empty cup.

Just as a dancer, turning and turning, may fill the dusty light with the soft swirl of her flying skirts, our weeping willow – now old and broken, creaking in the breeze – turns slowly, slowly in the winter sun, sweeping the rusty roof of the barn with the pale blue lacework of her shadow.

Sometimes you sense how faithfully your life is delivered, even though you can’t read the address.