If life had a second edition, how I would correct the proofs?. John Clare

The kind of poetry that imbues the everyday, the tarnished and burnished, with the possibilities of the transcendent - The Times

Form is a straitjacket in the way that a straitjacket was a straitjacket for Houdini. Paul Muldoon.

Bird's is a poetry of ideas, but unexpected, often extraordinary ones - Times Literary Supplement

I try to honor my reader's patience and generosity by presenting what I have to say as clearly and succinctly as possible. - Ted Kooser

A writer is not interested in explaining reality; he's interested in capturing it. - Brendan Kennelly

A true poem is dreamed and danced as well as thought. - Les Murray