“I knew if I lived long enough I would be poet laureate of something.”

“I knew if I waited around long enough something like this would happen.”

“Would I be commenting on Amy Fisher?Was that the sort of subject that someone who hoped to become poet laureate should discuss? Would those British laureates who had traditionally written about royal birthdays and royal jubilees have dealt with such goings on?”

“They wrote to me and said something about it, and I said that if it doesn't involve any work, I'll do it. (On being named Minnesota's first Poet Laureate)”

“If more politicians knew poetry, and more poets knew politics, I am convinced the world would be a little better place in which to live.”

“So I don’t think I’ll make Poet Laureate,but I swear I’m not twisted and bitter,If finely-wrought talentsdon’t weigh in the balance,I can always write haiku on Twitter.”