I never wanted to be a pop star.

Poets these days, like artists and composers, have won for themselves almost unlimited freedom. You can pass yourself off as a painter without being able to draw, as a composer without being conscious of key relationships, and as a poet without making yourself familiar with traditional verse forms.

Looking back at it now, any objective account of my life is bound to read like a cross between 'The Wife of Bath's Tale' and a travel brochure.

I truly hate marketing promotions, and I don't at all approve of encouraging wannabe poets to write bad poetry.

Many varieties of sonnet, of course, have been written over the ages.

Writing in a strict form can surprise you.

I've cancelled all my subscriptions to poetry magazines. I prefer to read the 'New Scientist.'

Have you ever heard of a pianist who never had to practice - or of an architect who didn't bother to find out why buildings stand up?

A poem might be defined as thinking about feelings – about human feelings and frailties.

I play with language a great deal in my poems, and I enjoy that. I try to condense language, that is, I try to express complicated but I hope real emotions as simply as possible. But that doesn’t mean the poems are simple, just that they are as truthful as I can make them.