I'm A Bad Jew, A

I Am Losing My Soviet Citizenship, I Do Not Cease To Be A Russian Poet. I Believe That I Will Return. Poets Always Return In Flesh Or On Paper.

I Don't Believe In That Country Any Longer. I'm Not Interested. I'm Writing In The Language, And I Like The Language.

The Moment That You Place Blame Somewhere, You Undermine Your Resolve To Change Anything.

Robert Frost's Triumph Was Not Being At John Kennedy's Inauguration Ceremony, But The Day When He Put The Last Period On "west-running Brook.

In America, A Metrical Poem Is Likely To Conjure Up The Idea Of The Sort Of Poet Who Wears Ties And Lunches At The Faculty Club. In Russia It Suggests The Moral Force Of An Art Practiced Against The Greatest Personal Odds, As A Discipline, Solitary And Intense.