In politics a capable ruler must be guided by circumstances conjectures and conjunctions.

I've rarely kept my distance from kind of - I don't know if we can call it politics but kind of civic engagement and that kind of thing except I tended to think 'Well do it yourself before you start telling other people what they should be doing.'

A politics that is not sensitive to the concerns and circumstances of people's lives a politics that does not speak to and include people is an intellectually arrogant politics that deserves to fail.

So much of my poetry begins with something that I can describe in visual terms so thinking about distance thinking about how life begins and what might be watching us.

I read as much poetry as time allows and circumstance dictates: No heartache can pass without a little Dorothy Parker no thunderstorm without W. H. Auden no sleepless night without W. B. Yeats.

If it is an imperfect word no external circumstance can heighten its value as poetry.

Well the great thing for me about poetry is that in good poems the dislocation of words that is to say the distance between what they say they're saying and what they are actually saying is at its greatest.

I think there are things in my story that have helped my creativity. Your father being killed for instance is one of the best things that could happen to a kid if he's going to write poetry or songs.

When I lived in New York not only did I have safety locks on the door but I had the music going keeping the city at a distance trying to find creative time and peace and so forth.

I wish the Peace Corps and its volunteers continued success and perseverance. We are grateful for their contributions to society and dedication to providing assistance where it is needed. May the Peace Corps continue its legacy of service both at home and abroad.