My Old Teacher's Definition Of Poetry Is

Deep Feeling Doesn't Make For Good Poetry. A Way With Language Would Be A Bit Of Help.

Much That Is Natural, To The Will Must Yield. Men Manufacture Both Machine And Soul, And Use What They Imperfectly Control To Dare A Future From The Taken Routes.

I Don't Know How To Sit Outside Myself And Test Against A Hypothetical Self Who Stayed Home.

When I First Started Teaching At Berkeley In 1958, I Could Not Announce That I Was Gay To Anybody, Though Probably Quite A Few Of My Fellow Teachers Knew.

I Notice That Students, Particularly For Gay Students, It's Too Easy To Write About My Last Trick Or Something. It's Not Very Interesting To The Reader.