If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once a week.

The loss of these tastes [for poetry and music] is a loss of happiness, and may possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character, by enfeebling the emotional part of our nature.

At certain times I read a lot of poetry. My favorite poets are Shelley and Keats. Rimbaud is so identifiable. Lord Byron. I don't know. Lately if I read poems, it's like I can always hear the guitar. Even with Shakespeare's sonnets I can hear a melody because it's all broken up into timed phrases so I hear it. I always keep thinking, 'What kind of song would this be?'

I consider myself a poet first and a musician second. I live like a poet and I'll die like a poet.

Poetry is the renewal of words, setting them free, and that's what a poet is doing: loosening the words.

Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.