Alchemy is the art of far and near and I think poetry is alchemy in that way. It's delightful to distort size to see something that's tiny as though it were vast.

Poetry is emotion put into measure. The emotion must come by nature but the measure can be acquired by art.

Deals are my art form. Other people paint beautifully on canvas or write wonderful poetry. I like making deals preferably big deals. That's how I get my kicks.

A verbal art like poetry is reflective it stops to think. Music is immediate it goes on to become.

Mathematics is as it were a sensuous logic and relates to philosophy as do the arts music and plastic art to poetry.

Poetry is a beautiful way of spoiling prose and the laborious art of exchanging plain sense for harmony.

Poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth.

Poetry is the art of substantiating shadows and of lending existence to nothing.

Personality is everything in art and poetry.

I'm fascinated by rap and by hip-hop. I think there's a lot of poetry in it. There's a lot of anger a lot of social energy in it. And I think you'd better listen to it pretty carefully 'cause it's important.

It's necessary to start most work alone. But I'm tickled to death when I can pull somebody in or join someone whether it's borrowing poetry or traveling with an associate.

You watch an old 'Jeopardy!' and the categories alone are very plain. 'Poetry ' or 'Movies ' or 'Physics.' If you watch it now though there'll be a theme board where the categories are all Hitchcock movies. Lots more jokes lots more high-concept categories and questions.

A book is sent out into the world and there is no way of fully anticipating the responses it will elicit. Consider the responses called forth by the Bible Homer Shakespeare - let alone contemporary poetry or a modern novel.