"From reading a previous answer, you know that I consider all those aspects to be part of American cultural myth and thus they figure into good American poetry, whether the poet is aware of what he is doing or not."

"But I don't think that poetry is a good, to use a contemporary word, venue, for current events."

"I have always wanted what I have now come to call the voice of personal narrative. That has always been the appealing voice in poetry. It started for me lyrically in Shakespeare's sonnets."

"American poetry, like American painting, is always personal with an emphasis on the individuality of the poet."

"Duty is the great business of a sea officer all private considerations must give way to it, however painful it may be."

"To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain."

"A positive attitude is something everyone can work on, and everyone can learn how to employ it."

"Today's business and health care climate may not be pleasant. Cutbacks, pay cuts and layoffs do not make anyone's job easy. But that does not mean that the humor need stop."