We also talked about literary criticism. I found myself saying, in the flat tone of a sullen child, "I don’t like philology." He protested, said I must read Maurice Blanchot and Vladimir Markov.

It was at some point during this conversation in his office – I do not remember the exact order in which things were said – that he told me, "Every poem is the anti-computer, even the one the computer writes." I looked up, puzzled; he repeated, "Every poem is the anti-computer, even the one the computer writes." I wrote it down.

On the way out he said another thing to me, a propos of nothing: "There’s no cheating in poetry (In der Dichtung wird nicht gemogelt)" He repeated: "There’s no cheating in poetry."

from Esther Cameron's recollections of a walk with Paul Celan.