Every time I receive a letter from someone who simply wants to write, not because they want something, because they simply want to say, “I just want to tell you what poetry means to me,” I realize what hunger out there there is for people to be able to read and to write poetry — to feel a connection with other people on a very intimate, interior level. That buoys me up some. There are obligations, too. Distinct duties of a poet laureate. I plan a reading series at the Library of Congress, and advise the librarian on literary matters. The rest is pretty much left up to me: how I want to promote poetry, how I want to bring it into the household.