I think Walt Whitman went to the help wanted section and found a squib that said "Wanted: National Poet." And he was innocent enough to believe there really was such a job. And if he could just write a poem that incorporated everything he felt and suspected and hoped for from America that he would have the position.

I think Walt Whitman went to the help wanted section and found a squib that said "Wanted: National Poet." And he was innocent enough to believe there really was such a job. And if he could just write a poem that incorporated everything he felt and suspected and hoped for from America that he would have the position.

Writing means being a fascinated slave to current events.

There's a kind of ear music . . . a rhythmic synchronicity which creates a kind of heartbeat on the page.

Know something, sugar? Stories only happen to people who can tell them.

You know, right often, the body is the best thing we’ve got going for us. A body itself is a shiny object. Something!

Writing is a kind of free fall that you then go back and edit and shape.