I never thought I'd be doing poetry books. I never really studied poetry. But the first one I did was after my mother died, and I realized that people sort of think and talk about her style and fashion, but in fact, what made her the person she was was really her love of reading and ideas.

I know my mother so well, so it's hard for me to remember that people have a certain image of her, but they don't really know her personality.

In my family in particular, I think, there was a sense we have to work twice as hard.

Many people remember that spirit that President Kennedy summoned forth. Many people look to me as somebody who embodies that sense of possibility.

The most beautiful people are all in the library.

I don't remember my father reading to me, but I remember him telling me bedtime stories. I got to pick what was in them, and then he'd make them up.

Poetry is really a way of sharing feelings and ideas.