I have piles of poetry books in the bathroom, on the stairs, everywhere. The only way to write poetry is to read it.
Poets sing our human music for us.
I still read Donne, particularly his love poems.
Poetry, above all, is a series of intense moments - its power is not in narrative. I'm not dealing with facts, I'm dealing with emotion.
If I felt, in the event of a royal wedding, inspired to write about people coming together in marriage or civil partnership, I would just be grateful to have an idea for the poem. And if I didn't, I'd...
Christmas is taken very seriously in this household. I believe in Father Christmas, and there's no way I'd do anything to undermine that belief.
And here you come
I grew up in a bookless house - my parents didn't read poetry, so if I hadn't had the chance to experience it at school I'd never have experienced it. But I loved English, and I was very lucky in that...
I like to use simple words, but in a complicated way.
You can find poetry in your everyday life, your memory, in what people say on the bus, in the news, or just what's in your heart.
I think poetry can help children deal with the other subjects on the curriculum by enabling them to see a subject in a new way.
The moment of inspiration can come from memory, or language, or the imagination, or experience - anything that makes an impression forcibly enough for language to form.
It's always good when women win things in fiction because it tends to be more male-dominated, unlike poetry, which is more equal.
Auden said poetry makes nothing happen. But I wonder if the opposite could be true. It could make something happen.
Poetry and prayer are very similar.