At the age of 15, a teacher had asked me what I wanted to do for a career, and without knowing why or even how I replied that I wanted to be a poet.

the best way to sharpen a knife is not to whet one side of it only. And neither can you solve a riddle by considering only one end of it.

Sometimes a word or an argument will trigger a poem.

Once an interesting idea or theme occurs to me then I would want to write a poem about it. The rest, frankly, is not difficult.

There are powerful forces undermining progress in Africa. But one must never underestimate the power of the people to bring about change.

They had always told me that I wrote like a man.

The very old certainly do not go back on lunch remains but they do bite back at old conversational topics.