When I was asked to be Writer in Residence at Edinburgh I thought, you cant teach poetry. This is ridiculous. – Norman MacCaig

All those authors there, most of whom of course Ive never met. Thats the poetry side, thats the prose side, thats the fishing and miscellaneous behind me. You get an affection for books that youve enjoyed. – Norman MacCaig

In fact a lot of them I think are absolute baloney. Those Charles Olsens and people like that. At first I was interested in seeing what they were up to, what they were doing, why they were doing it. They never moved me in the way that one is moved by true poetry. – Norman MacCaig