Norman MacCaig

When I talk of hearing a poet's voice speaking, I always think of it as in the presence of the man.

But I hang on to books. I love them. I even think they're very nice decor in a room - far better than paintings... That's not quite true!

There are some friends you don't meet for twenty years and when you meet them again it's as if no twenty years has happened - you're lucky when that happens. I feel the same about books.

I owe a great deal to Harold Hobson, doyen drama critic of the 'U.K. Sunday Times,' who championed me as Shakespeare's Richard II at the 1969 Edinburgh Festival.

The thing about great poetry is we have no defenses against it.