But I liked Yeats! That wild Irishman. I really loved his love of language his flow. His chaotic ideas seemed to me just the right thing for a poet. Passion! He was always on the right side. He may be wrongheaded but his heart was always on the right side. He wrote beautiful poetry.

Poetry even when apparently most fantastic is always a revolt against artifice a revolt in a sense against actuality.

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.

As things are and as fundamentally they must always be poetry is not a career but a mug's game. No honest poet can ever feel quite sure of the permanent value of what he has written: He may have wasted his time and messed up his life for nothing.

There'll always be working people in my poems because I grew up with them and I am a poet of memory.

The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth.

Always be a poet even in prose.

I always pet a dog with my left hand because if he bit me I'd still have my right hand to paint with.

Gypsy was the name my brother gave a pet turtle he had. I always thought it was so peculiar.

There are things that I invented - the creaky geriatric robot that is always grumpy for example or the little wheelie guy he's not in the Hasbro lore. But kids love that stuff - this little guy as a pet on a chain. They gravitate towards it.