When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President I'm beginning to believe it.

Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices a rottenness begins in his conduct.

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.

Let my life as Poet begin. I want the life of the Poet. I have labored for over twelve years one thousand pages of prose. Now I want the easiness of poetry. The brevity of the poem.

But at the beginning it was clear to me that concrete poetry was peculiarly suited for using in public settings. This was my idea but of course I never really much got the chance to do it.

Poetry is fascinating. As soon as it begins the poetry has changed the thing into something extra and somehow prose can go over into poetry.

On July 26 1916 I announced to all my friends in America that from now on I resolved to write no more poems in the classical language and to begin my experiments in writing poetry in the so-called vulgar tongue of the people.

I'm conscious of a series of circles working its way through my life. And at this particular moment I have come round to the beginning of my writing cycle. It begins with poetry. There's hardly a day that goes past on which I don't write poetry.

A poem begins as a lump in the throat a sense of wrong a homesickness a lovesickness.

Wars begin in the minds of men and in those minds love and compassion would have built the defenses of peace.