And my father was a comic. He could play any musical instrument. He loved to perform. He was a wonderfully comedic character. He had the ability to dance and sing and charm and analyze poetry.

Prose talks and poetry sings.

Science and art or by the same token poetry and prose differ from one another like a journey and an excursion. The purpose of the journey is its goal the purpose of an excursion is the process.

Poetry it is often said and loudly so is life's true mirror. But a monkey looking into a work of literature looks in vain for Socrates.

I don't think rap really fits in to 'American Idol' in the sense that I believe rap is an art form in itself more akin to poetry more akin to drama if you will.

On the other hand if there's an underlying core of poetry that I go to I go to the sea. I've lived on the sea all my life. I live on the sea in Cape Breton.

If you don't mark your successes the day your ship comes in could be just another day at the office and there's no poetry in that.

I think we fool ourselves and really negate a great deal of history if we think that the oral history of poetry is shorter than the written history of poetry. It's not true. Poetry has a longer oral tradition than it does written.

More people than ever are slowly but surely turning their ears toward poetry.

I was always making up rhymes. But I never thought that poetry would become my life.