"Teaching writing over the years intrudes on your own writing in important ways, taking away some of the excitement of poetry."

"Part of what we love about poetry is the fact that it seems ancient, that it has an authority of ancient language and ancient form, and that it's timeless, that it reaches back."

"Our most famous writers are Faulkner and Eudora Welty and Flannery O'Connor. It would make sense that the poetry would reflect some of those same values, some of the same techniques."

"The fact that something is in a rhymed form or in blank verse will not make it good poetry."

"You may not be able to change a situation, but with humor you can change your attitude about it."

"Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine."

"Wear a smile and have friends wear a scowl and have wrinkles."

"Smile, for everyone lacks self-confidence and more than any other one thing a smile reassures them."