A lot of young poets today, from what I've heard and experienced, can't get their heads past George W. Bush, and I've heard so many poems about this democracy and this era of politics that I'm kind of bored by it

And one of my other friends could not believe in God if he came down and tapped her on the shoulder. She's a biologist - a student at UCLA - and I don't judge her either, because I really believe that God is a personal opinion, and only that

I tried not to make God this big deal in Joan's life. She treats God like a friend: she's nice to him some days, and other days mean, and then cries when she needs help.

I think any time you have too much education in one certain field, that can sometimes play against you

I remember when I first started in the business, I lost a lot of friends. Some were jealous, some were annoyed at the fact that I was an actress.

Part of our business is that you read interviews with these people and they don't really talk candidly about what's going on and the struggle - the struggle to do what you love and to maintain body image and to maintain this sort of false stature of who you're supposed to be as a role model and also who you are supposed to be to yourself personally and privately.

I think it's hard to be taken seriously as a poet, period.