“This poem has been called obscure. I refuse to believe that it is obscurer than pity, violence, or suffering. But being a poem, not a lifetime, it is more compressed.”

“A good poem is a contribution to reality. The world is never the same once a good poem has been added to it. A good poem helps to change the shape of the universe, helps to extend everyone's knowledge of himself and the world around him.”

“Some people react physically to the magic of poetry, to the moments, that is, of authentic revelation, of the communication, the sharing, at its highest level...A good poem is a contribution to reality. The world is never the same once a good poem has been added to it. A good poem helps to change the shape and significance of the universe, helps to extend everyone's knowledge of himself and the world around him.”

“Dark is a way and light is a place,Heaven that never wasNor will be ever is always true"Poem on His Birthday”

“These poems, with all their crudities, doubts and confusions, are written for the love of man and in Praise of God, and I'd be a damn fool if they weren't.”

“I believe in New Yorkers. Whether they've ever questioned the dream in which they live, I wouldn't know, because I won't ever dare ask that question.”

“I have longed to move awayFrom the hissing of the spent lieAnd the old terrors' continual cryGrowing more terrible as the dayGoes over the hill into the deep sea;I have longed to move awayFrom the repetition of salutes,For there are ghosts in the airAnd ghostly echoes on paper,And the thunder of calls and notes.I have longed to move away but am afraid;Some life, yet unspent, might explodeOut of the old lie burning on the ground,And, crackling into the air, leave me half-blind.Neither by night's ancient fear,The parting of hat from hair,Pursed lips at the receiver,Shall I fall to death's feather.By these I would not care to die,Half convention and half lie.”