I don't look on poetry as closed works. I feel they're going on all the time in my head and I occasionally snip off a length.

In my opinion the most significant works of the twentieth century are those that rise beyond the conceptual tyranny of genre they are at the same time poetry criticism narrative drama etc.

I think I'm a very good reader of poetry but obviously like everybody I have a set of criteria for reading poems and I'm not shy about presenting them so if people ask for my critical response to a poem I tell them what works and why and what doesn't work and why.

Art works because it appeals to certain faculties of the mind. Music depends on details of the auditory system painting and sculpture on the visual system. Poetry and literature depend on language.

Narrative art the novel from Murasaki to Proust has produced great works of poetry.

In the world of poetry there are would-be poets workshop poets promising poets lovesick poets university poets and a few real poets.

Society has arisen out of the works of peace the essence of society is peacemaking.

We tried war we tried aggression we tried intervention. None of it works. Why don't we try peace as a science of human relations not as some vague notion - as everyday work.

I'm on the board of directors for Peace Now which works tirelessly between the Palestinians and the Israelis to create peace in the Middle East and we've never been closer.

Intervention only works when the people concerned seem to be keen for peace.