Rumi who is one of the greatest Persian poets said that the truth was a mirror in the hands of God. It fell and broke into pieces. Everybody took a piece of it and they looked at it and thought they had the truth.

Young poets bewail the passing of love old poets the passing of time. There is surprisingly little difference.

Anthropologists are a connecting link between poets and scientists though their field-work among primitive peoples has often made them forget the language of science.

And if we must educate our poets and artists in science we must educate our masters labour and capital in art.

Science is not addressed to poets.

Well we all start thinking we're going to be Romantic rock stars but then reality hits and you realize no one reads you but other poets.

The Romantic poets were the prototype ramblers and I've often found myself following in their footsteps - although perhaps not all of their footsteps since a typical walk for Samuel T. Coleridge might last two days and cover 145km.

I usually write for the individual reader -though I would like to have many such readers. There are some poets who write for people assembled in big rooms so they can live through something collectively. I prefer my reader to take my poem and have a one-on-one relationship with it.

The worth of a civilization or a culture is not valued in the terms of its material wealth or military power but by the quality and achievements of its representative individuals - its philosophers its poets and its artists.

Don't call my lyrics poetry. It's an insult to real poets.