I think the best American poetry is the poetry that utilizes the resources of poetry rather than exploits the defects or triumphs of the poets personality. – Mark Strand

I believe that all poetry is formal in that it exists within limits, limits that are either inherited by tradition or limits that language itself imposes. – Mark Strand

A life is not sufficiently elevated for poetry, unless, of course, the life has been made into an art. – Mark Strand