"Writing poetry is always a little archaeological—we dig and sift not only through our fund of experiences and memorie…"

"History is a field at once very large and very intimate. But I like to think of the past as not completely done, of h…"

"Every poem carries the seed of a story. And like music, it’s able to get to the emotional heart of an experience, som…"

"...what we love most fiercely, the joys that deliver the keenest edge -- are the way they are because we understand t…"

"One cannot expect to be a writer without being a reader!…I often draw from contemporary works, but I remind my studen…"

"(LR: Do you have any advice for young poets just out of, or in the midst of, writing programs?) LI: Don’t lose whatev…"

"What I am most moved by about poetry through all these years, is how it works in this ineffable register—how it’s rea…"

"I believe that art does not arise out of a void, and that it is effective when it makes heartfelt human connections, …"

"I feel that poetry is mystery, an intangible magic that I approach again and again in the hopes that I might be able …"

"I think what I was trying to say in Trill & Mordent (2005) is that we are all affected by this climate of anxiety; we…"