Fame just ain't a natural situation. But I shouldn't have worried because everyone thought I was a bit famous even before I'd done anything; people just assumed I was famous.

The '80s were a lost decade.

I eat like a pig. Tripe is the only thing I won't eat.

From social pariah to King of the World? It's taken 45 years, so I've been able to adjust to it!

My favourite writers are columnists.

My trouser needs are simple: a narrow leg in a dark colour, with jean detailing.

I've never met a happy atheist.

I judge by appearances. People tell me I shouldn't.

The main thing a poem ought to be is musical. It should be rhythmic. You should hear it as a musical piece in your head as you're writing it.

It amazes me there are movies about writers… such inert, uneventful lives.

When you write poetry you are always addressing the world somehow.

By the '80s, anything to do with punk was perceived as rancid. Me being known as the 'punk poet' meant my work and I plummeted.

Idleness - a job that you have to go to, but not necessarily do anything - is the poet's friend.

I've had a few jobs, but if you want to be a writer, you're better off getting a job that doesn't require that you do anything.

It took me 30 years for people to consider me an overnight success.

At the beginning, there was no chance I'd get published so I thought I'd give it a go live. I had to perform in rock band places and working men's clubs, where you wouldn't expect to find poetry. I ploughed a lonely furrow.

No one wants to be a source of anxiety to everybody they know.

Maybe there are luckier people than me, but I don't know who that would be. I feel pretty lucky. I've had a nice life - I don't know how I could be luckier.

When I sit down to eat, the greatest spice of all is hunger.

I had TB as a boy. They said my skeletal frame never developed properly.

I don't go looking for new fads.

I love talking about anything, except for myself.

I never saw a painting that would not be improved by the addition of tropical fish.

I'm a great believer in the capsule wardrobe - a wardrobe where's there's a limited palate of black colours.