But O I love you it sings, my little my country

My food my parent my child I want you my own

My flower my fin my life my lightness my O…

FAITH LAPIDUS: Robert Pinksy says poetry is also like dance -- an art form where the medium is the human body itself.

ROBERT PINSKY: “And that makes it very intimate on that human scale. It’s my advice for people who have, alas, somehow learned that poetry is difficult or think they’ve learned that they don’t have a taste for it, say it aloud. You feel what it’s like to say it with your breath and your tongue and your voice box. And, all that. And along with that intimacy, there is something social about it.

“I try to make works of art out of something everybody uses all day: dollar bills and quarters and credit cards. We use words all day long. 'Is that your car? I think it’s blocking mine.' 'I love you but not that way,' or, 'How good is the soup of the day today?' You’re using words!”

FAITH LAPIDUS: Mr. Pinsky has a doctorate from Stanford University. He taught at Wellesley College and the University of California, Berkeley, before coming to Boston University. He is a professor in the creative writing program.

His books include poetry collections, criticism and translations. His honors include awards for his nineteen ninety-four translation of Dante's "Inferno" from Italian.

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: In nineteen ninety-seven, the librarian of Congress named Robert Pinsky as poet laureate of the United States. Mr. Pinsky is the only laureate to have been reappointed twice. He served as the nation's official poet until the year two thousand.