The same chemicals were used in the cooking as were used on the composition of her own being: only those which caused the most violent reaction, contradiction, and teasing, the refusal to answer questions but the love of putting them, and all the strong spices of human relationship which bore a relation to black pepper, paprika, soybean sauce, ketchup and red peppers.

The final lesson a writer learns is that everything can nourish the writer.

Poetry is the alchemy which teaches us to convert ordinary materials into gold.

My life is not possible to tell. I change every day, change my patterns, my concepts, my interpretations. I am a series of moods and sensations. I play a thousand roles. I weep when I find others play them for me. My real self is unknown. My work is merely an essence of this vast and deep adventure.

We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls.

I adore the struggle you carry in yourself. I adore your terrifying sincerity.

My ideas usually come not at my desk writing but in the midst of living.