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

One of my good friends is Christian, goes to church every Sunday, very religious. I'm fine with that and I will never judge her.

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

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 haven't had a lot of celebrities around me growing up.

And a lot of times in slam poetry I feel like people are so worried about the performance that the words might not be as strong.