Catherine Byron's poems write themselves where they ought: on the inside of your skin. Hilary Mantel

Poetry is emotion put into measure. The emotion must come by nature, but the measure can be acquired by art. Thomas Hardy

I'd feel the need for / tighter turns, / a tiredness with the / larger flourish - from 'I think I could turn awhile'

A keeper of the artistic estate, a custodian of griefs and wonders - Seamus Heaney

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

My poems are the product of a relationship between a side of my mind which is conscious, alert, educated and manipulative, and a side which is as murky as a primaeval swamp. - Andrew Motion