Q: "What do you think a young poet starting out today needs to learn the most?"
Charles Bukowski: "He should realize that if he writes something and it bores him it's going to bore many other people also. There is nothing wring with a poetry that is entertaining and easy to understand. Genius could be the ability to say a profound thing in a simple way. He should stay the hell out of writing classes and find out what's happening around the corner. And bad luck for the young poet would be a rich father, an early marriage, an early success or the ability to do anything well" (PC 321).
The Poet's Craft: Interviews From The New York Quarterly. Edited by William Packard. New York: Paragon House, 1987.