Poetry resonates differently in each culture; it doesn't in America.

People who publish poetry today do it from a sense that poetry needs to be published, not because they think they are going to make money.

I like each of my books to be different. Once I've done something I like to move on and push myself to learn new things and expand the limits of poetic form.

Poems are language turned into art; sound and sense matter; they can be as long or longer than The Odyssey or as short or shorter than a haiku. Not very helpful.

Many other cultures value poetry more than we do. In Ireland, poetry is a top cultural pursuit, the art to end all arts.

A poem employs both the sound and the sense of language, it treats words not just as signifiers but as a plastic medium of artistic expression.

I tend to write poetry that is rich in data of various sorts. The lyric poem isn't perfectly suited to accommodating such data, so I've had to find new ways to say everything that I want to say.

The culture stays alive, but certain parts of it die or fail, and that's very interesting to me.

It's not surprising to me that books ended up playing a central role in my life, but it is somewhat mysterious that poetry did.

Crushed again!

Where ever there's guilt there's violence, and if guilt is a smell then violence is a taste: strawberries and formaldehyde and ironish blood.

I just am a huge cheerleader for getting kids interested in science and technology.

The night I sailed for China, March 3, 1893, my life, on the human side, was broken, and it never was mended again. But He has been enough.

Never give up. Just follow your dreams because this business can be so hard sometimes. It doesn't happen overnight where you get an audition or even a callback and get the role. It takes time.

"American Idol" has done a lot for me. It's a stepping stone in my life.

No one thing does human life more need than a kind consideration of the faults of others. Every one sins; everyone needs forbearance. Our own imperfections should teach us to be merciful.

Man's highest merit always is, as much as possible, to rule external circumstances and as little as possible to let himself be ruled by them.

There were many times my pants were so thin I could sit on a dime and tell if it was heads or tails.

There is no reason not to consider the world as one gigantic painting.