Dolores Kendrick sites the work of Donald Hall, US Poet Laureate and colleague, on the subject of what matters when writing poetry. The following is a quote from Breakfast Served Any Time All Day by Donald Hall reprinted from the Exonian, copyright Donald Hall, September 1, 2004:

"Remember what matters...Remember that you love poems, those old stars burning in the sky forever...Remember that you work not for publication, not for NEA grants, not for listing in Poets and Writers, not for praise, not for notoriety, not for money, not for Guggenheims, not for Pulitzers, not for Greek Islands, not for APR, not for Yaddo, not for tenure.  Remember that you work to make a star that will burn--outside you and even for a while after you--high in the sky."