Certainly, it seems true enough that theres a good deal of irony in the world… I mean, if you live in a world full of politicians and advertising, theres obviously a lot of deception. – Kenneth Koch
I love painting and music, of course. I dont know nearly as much about them as I know about poetry. Ive certainly been influenced by fiction. I was overwhelmed by War and Peace when I read it, and I didnt read it until I was in my late 20s. – Kenneth Koch
As for political poetry, as its usually defined, it seems theres very little good political poetry. – Kenneth Koch
I wonder if I ever thought of an ideal reader… I guess when I was in my 20s and in New York and maybe even in my early 30s, I would write for my wife Janice… mainly for my poet friends and my wife, who was very smart about poetry. – Kenneth Koch
Hope is a state of mind, not of the world. Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good. – Vaclav Havel