I think that is where poetry reading becomes such an individual thing. I mean I have friend who like poets who just dont say anything to me at all, I mean they seem to me rather ordinary and pedestrian. – James Laughlin

Of course a poem is a two-way street. No poem is any good if it doesnt suggest to the reader things from his own mind and recollection that he will read into it, and will add to what the poet has suggested. But I do think poetry readings are very important. – James Laughlin

I think theres no excuse for the American poetry reader not knowing a good deal about what is going on in the rest of the world. – James Laughlin