A theology should be like poetry which takes us to the end of what words and thoughts can do.

In poetry you must love the words the ideas and the images and rhythms with all your capacity to love anything at all.

You pick up loads of baggage with your first record with reaction to it from fans and critics. So I went to Ireland by myself for a couple of weeks with my guitar. I read lots of poetry I read Patti Smith's autobiography and started words and phrases and then songs started to take shape.

Poetry involves the mysteries of the irrational perceived through rational words.

I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry that is prose = words in their best order - poetry = the best words in the best order.

I certainly derived my skills as a prose writer from my scrutiny of poetry and of the individual word. But schools don't do things like that anymore - tracking words down to their roots.

As an actor there is room for a certain amount of creativity but you're always ultimately going to be saying somebody else's words. I don't think I'd have the stamina skill or ability to write a novel but I'd love to write short stories and poetry because those are my two passions.

Poetry is an orphan of silence. The words never quite equal the experience behind them.

We all write poems it is simply that poets are the ones who write in words.

You don't make a poem with ideas but with words.