I keep the drafts of each poem in color-coded folders. I pick up the folders according to how I feel about that color that day.

I was apprehensive. I feared every time I talked about poetry, it would be filtered through the lens of race, sex, and age.

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!

I try to show what it is about language and music that enthralls, because I think those are the two elements of poetry.

I thought, after the Pulitzer, at least nothing will surprise me quite that much in my life. And another one happened. It was quite amazing.

I think reading Shakespeare's plays when I was young was extremely important. He had the ability to make utter strangers come alive.

I think children have talent and insight, but it gets beaten out of them.

I see a resurgence of interest in poetry. I am less optimistic about the prospects for the arts when it comes to federal funding.

I prefer to explore the most intimate moments, the smaller, crystallized details we all hinge our lives on.

I write short stories, and I wrote a play.

I loved to read, but I always thought that the dream was too far away. The person who had written the book was a god, it wasn't a person.

Have you ever heard a good joke? If you've ever heard someone just right, with the right pacing, then you're already on the way to poetry. It's about using words in very precise ways and using gesture.

I have a high guilt quotient. A poem can go through as many as 50 or 60 drafts. It can take from a day to two years-or longer.

I didn't know writers could be real live people, because I never knew any writers.

I carry a notebook with me everywhere. But that's only the first step.