Delivering The State Of The Union? That

In The Twelfth Century The Basque Fishermen Of Biarritz Used To Hunt Whales With Deadly Efficiency. When The Whales Sensibly Moved Away, The Basques Chased Them Further And Further, With The Consequence That The Fishermen Of Biarritz Discovered America Before Columbus Did. This Is A Matter For Local Pride But On A Larger View It Is Not Quite So Stunning, Since With The Possible Exception Of The Swiss Everybody Discovered America Before Columbus Did.

Reading And Writing... Are Exciting. The Most Exciting Things I Can Think Of. And Now, As I Reflect... I Have To Say That I've Been Lucky In That I'm Amused By What I Do - Sufficiently Amused.

It's A Big Thing To Call Yourself A Poet. All I Can Say Is That I Have Always Written Poems. I Don't Think I'm Interested In Any Discussion About Whether I'm A Good Poet, A Bad Poet Or A Great Poet. But I Am Sure, I Want To Write Great Poems. I Think Every Poet Should Want That.

You Can Never Get A Woman To Sit Down And Listen To A Drum Solo.

In The Movies First Impressions Are Everything. Or, To Put It Less Drastically, In The Movies There Are No Later Impressions Without A First Impression, Because You Will Have Stopped Watching. Sometimes A Critic Persuades You To Give An Unpromising-looking Movie A Chance, But The Movie Had Better Convey The Impression Pretty Quickly That The Critic Might Be Right.