I don't think it's always good to read lots of poetry

Right afterward I read Fast Food Nation. That book changed my life: It made me a vegetarian.

The poetry when I was a kid felt like something that I could control, and whether it failed or not, whether it was good or not, was totally on me and I could accept that. It was entirely mine.

I've been kind of submerged in my own little geographic location for a really long time in Venice Beach

I don't think it's always good to read lots of poetry

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

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.