The poem, even a short time after being written, seems no miracle; unwritten, it seems something beyond the capacity of the gods. * Art is the means we have of undoing the damage of haste. It's what everything else isn't. * You can't make poetry simply by avoiding clichés. * There's a point where plainness is no longer a virtue, when it becomes excessively bald, wrenched. * You must believe: a poem is a holy thing -- a good poem, that is.