“I try to show what it is about language and music that enthralls, because I think those are the two elements of poetry.”
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There are distinct duties of a poet laureate. I plan a reading series at the Library of Congress and advise the librarian. The rest is how I want to promote poetry.
Instead of trying to come up and pontificate on what literature is, you need to talk with children, to teachers, and make sure they get poetry in the curriculum early.
My father is a chemist, my mother was a homemaker. My parents instilled in us the feeling that learning was the most exciting thing that could happen to you, and it never ends.
The poetry that sustains me is when I feel that, for a minute, the clouds have parted and I've seen ecstasy or something.