Donkeys are the most misunderstood and abused animals around the world.

That was a mistake, I guess, going out to California. They have these things called guidance counselors in high school. They drink a lot of herbal tea.

I grew up with donkeys, as well as horses, but I'm more interested in donkeys.

For 'King Cole's American Salvage,' I rode around in the wrecker with a local driver and watched him deal with customers and hook up the cars. I watched the guy who tore apart the cars in the junkyard. I also wrote poems about those guys. I loved hanging around the yard.

I'm not much interested in my own self when I write. I'm interested in what I observe out there, what's going on around me.

I've worked behind counters serving food, and I've lived on the circus train, and I've led bicycle tours in Eastern Europe and the Balkans and Russia. I've been a key liner for a newspaper, I've done typesetting. Oh, all sorts of things.

Where I live you're not supposed to shoot a firearm within a quarter mile of a dwelling.