Christmas is taken very seriously in this household. I believe in Father Christmas and there's no way I'd do anything to undermine that belief..

Poets sing our human music for us..

I am always pleased to be asked to write a poem..

Where I lived - winter and hard earth.I sat in my cold stone roomchoosing tough words, granite, flint,to break the ice. My broken heart -I tried that….

I think all poets must feel this: that there is constantly something new to be discovered in the language. It's like a thrilling encounter, and you c….

Every day is a gift with a child, no matter what problems you have..

How would you prepare to die on a perfect April evening?.

I like to use simple words, but in a complicated way..

I think poetry can help children deal with the other subjects on the curriculum by enabling them to see a subject in a new way..

Having a child takes you back to all those parts of your own childhood that you had hidden away..

I think the dangers are different now. Our abuse of the planet and our resources is an anxiety..

My prose is turgid, it just hasn't got any energy.

I still read Donne, particularly his love poems.

For me, poetry is the music of being human. And also a time machine by which we can travel to who we are and to who we will become..

Better off dead than giving in; not taking what you want..

The stars are filming us for no one..

When you have a child, your previous life seems like someone else's. It's like living in a house and suddenly finding a room you didn't know was ther….

What do I haveto help me, without spell or prayer,endure this hour, endless, heartless, anonymous,the death of love?.

If I felt, in the event of a royal wedding, inspired to write about people coming together in marriage or civil partnership, I would just be grateful….

Time hates love, wants love poor,/but love spins gold, gold, gold from straw..

If we think of what's up ahead, with climate change and wars over water, it's very frightening..