 In fact a lot of them I think are absolute baloney. Those Charles Olsens and people like that. At first I was interested in seeing what they were up to, what they were doing, why they were doing it. They never moved me in the way that one is moved by true poetry. |
| When I go fishing I like to know that there's nobody within five miles of me. |
| People haven't got the interest in long long works these days. A lack of interest which I share. |
| And it's impossible for me to read Henry James. |
| It's like breathing in and out to me. It's like having a conversation with someone who isn't there. Because it has to be addressed to somebody - not a particular person, or very rarely. |
| I said I have no powers of invention. Well, I also have no powers of mimicry. |
| I'm very gregarious, but I love being in the hills on my own. |
| Well, I'm a light traveller. I chuck things away. |
| However, I learned something. I thought that if the young person, the student, has poetry in him or her, to offer them help is like offering a propeller to a bird. |
| I find it's impossible for me to read Proust. |
| And the second question, can poetry be taught? I didn't think so. |
| But I hang on to books. I love them. I even think they're very nice decor in a room - far better than paintings... That's not quite true! |
| And in a way, that's been a help to me, because I take great passions for a particular poet - sometimes it lasts for many years, sometimes only for a while. This happens to everybody. |
