“Only poetry can measure the distance between ourselves and the Other.”

“Poetry is an orphan of silence.”

“Charles Simic, when asked what he thought of Slam Poetry events: "They are fun, but they have as much to do with poetry as Elvis Presley had to do with Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk".”

“Poetry: three mismatched shoes at the entrance of a dark alley.”

“Because the light is always with usand the hush of an early morningtime propitious to plain speechspace between the premonition and the eventthe small lovely realm of the possible.”

“Here in the United States, we speak with reverence of authentic experience. We write poems about our daddies taking us fishing and breaking our hearts by making us throw the little fish back into the river. We even tell the reader the kind of car we were driving, the year and the model, to give the impression that it’s all true. It’s because we think of ourselves as journalists of a kind. Like them, we’ll go anywhere for a story. Don’t believe a word of it. As any poet can tell you, one often sees better with eyes closed than with eyes wide open.”

“Silence is the only language god speaks.”