We're always experiencing joy or sadness. But there are lots of people who've closed down. And there are times in one's life when one has to close down just to regroup.

Music is the emotional life of most people.

Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.

There were times that I thought I was good looking.

Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack in everything That's how the light gets in.

Seven to eleven is a huge chunk of life, full of dulling and forgetting. It is fabled that we slowly lose the gift of speech with animals, that birds no longer visit our windowsills to converse. As our eyes grow accustomed to sight they armor themselves against wonder.