I was very committed to the process of composing, working at poems, putting things together and taking them apart like some kind of experimental filmmaker.

Some people carry their hearts in their heads; very many carry their heads in their hearts. The difficulty is to keep them apart, yet both actively working together.

I just like the insides of things and finding ways into microscopic worlds. There's also an element of control, taking things apart and putting them back together. It's a very tedious task. You can be alone and create a world for yourself.

When I got to the reading all the work, I was reduced to being an actor in an experimental play that I'd already written. And I didn't want to be an actor.

Performing is very much like cooking: putting it all together, raising the temperature.

The ancient Greek oral poets all had this anxiety about the deficiencies of their memories and always began poems by praying to the Muse to help them remember.