Last week on NBC Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon defended the security "fence" being constructed around Palestinian areas by remarking that "a good fence will bring I believe good friendship":

The remark led “Today” co-host Katie Couric to cite Robert Frost’s line that “good fences make good neighbors.” "Yes, I quoted it ... when I met with the president,” Sharon responded with a chuckle.

The Sunday New York Times called this allusion "Robert Frost's reassuring notion," but ran a sidebar by poet Phillis Levin that muses, not particularly helpfully, on Frost as "juggler of ambiguities":

"Mending Wall" is about two neighbors working together to repair a stone wall, about what they say and do not say to each other, about a large gap between them. Frost is also talking about boundaries and barriers, about mending, about making amends.

Um, thanks.