All poetry has to do is to make a strong communication. All the poet has to do is listen. The poet is not an important fellow. There will also be another poet.

Religion is no more possible without prayer than poetry without language, or music without atmosphere.

There's not a good poet I know who has not at the beck and call of his memory a vast quantity of poetry that composes his mental library.

What is poetry which does not save nations or people?

Theater and poetry were what helped people stay alive and want to go on living.

I started off in England and very few people knew I was Australian. I mean, the clues were in the poems, but they didn't read them very carefully, and so for years and years I was considered completely part of the English poetry scene.

Poetry is of so subtle a spirit, that in the pouring out of one language into another it will evaporate.

Don't call my lyrics poetry. It's an insult to real poets.

You don't go after poetry, you take what comes. Maybe the gods do it through me but I certainly do a hell of a lot of the work.

This career essentially chased me down while I was on the spoken-word scene in New York. I kept hearing that my delivery of my poetry - which was very personal and cathartic at the time- was very moving to folks. People thought that I was an actress because of my delivery, when I was just dropping into the work and really pouring out my soul.