Well - I started writing - probably in the early 60s and by say '65-'66 I had read most of the poetry that had been published - certainly in the 20 years prior to that.

Probably induced by the asthma I started reading and writing early on my literary efforts from the age of about nine running chiefly to poetry and plays.

If you were going to choose a way of making your way in this world and a place to start from you might not choose poetry and you might not choose Huddersfield.

I always liked the magic of poetry but now I'm just starting to see behind the curtain of even the best poets how they've used tried and tested craft to create the illusion. Wonderful feeling of exhilaration to finally be there.

Well I had this little notion - I started writing when I was eleven writing poetry. I was passionately addicted to it it was my great refuge through adolescence.

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.

I work on words mostly toward them being poetry or short stories and then some of those become songs. They all find their place in the world but they all start off in the same place. I'm always painting and drawing as well and it's an ongoing creative assignment.

A group of us started a community center in Santa Monica. We've tried different programs and three have worked really well. A poetry group. Once a week we visit Venice High and talk to girls at risk.

I hardly remember how I started to write poetry. It's hard to imagine what I thought poetry could do.

I was trained as an actress. But I wasn't a very convincing actress so I started doing punk poetry and then fell into doing stand-up.

You pick up loads of baggage with your first record with reaction to it from fans and critics. So I went to Ireland by myself for a couple of weeks with my guitar. I read lots of poetry I read Patti Smith's autobiography and started words and phrases and then songs started to take shape.

Poetry should be great and unobtrusive a thing which enters into one's soul and does not startle it or amaze it with itself but with its subject.

A poet's work is to name the unnameable to point at frauds to take sides start arguments shape the world and stop it going to sleep.

On Memorial Day I don't want to only remember the combatants. There were also those who came out of the trenches as writers and poets who started preaching peace men and women who have made this world a kinder place to live.

Peace congresses often start by dealing with some of the less important questions in excessive detail so at the end there is no time to discuss the most important problems.

Now people all across America are starting to believe in America again. We are coming back back to the heights of greatness back to America's proud role as a temple of justice and a champion of peace.

We can only move to a long-term resolution regarding terrorism and war by planting seeds of peace. We have to start with ourselves.

When resources are degraded we start competing for them whether it is at the local level in Kenya where we had tribal clashes over land and water or at the global level where we are fighting over water oil and minerals. So one way to promote peace is to promote sustainable management and equitable distribution of resources.

I believe that peace with the Palestinians is most urgent - urgent than ever before. It is necessary. It is crucial. It is possible. A delay may worsen its chances. Israel and the Palestinians are in my judgment ripe today to restart the peace process.

I could start a war in 30 seconds. But some countries spend 100 years trying to find peace. Just like good manners peace has to be learned.

Balance peace and joy are the fruit of a successful life. It starts with recognizing your talents and finding ways to serve others by using them.

The world knows that America will never start a war. This generation of Americans has had enough of war and hate... we want to build a world of peace where the weak are secure and the strong are just.

Patriotism is an instant reaction that fades away when the war starts.

We coin concepts and we use them to analyse and explain nature and society. But we seem to forget midway that these concepts are our own constructs and start equating them with reality.