I didn't think about whether I was writing poems. I was thinking. And the more I was thinking, the more there was I didn't understand.

I have spoken to expert audiences occasionally, but then no audience is expert over the whole range of things I want to explore.

I've always had a strong feeling for the Statue of Liberty, because it became the statue of my personal liberty.

Stories are different every time you tell them - they allow so many possible narratives.

It's hard being a hostage in somebody else's mouth - or a character in somebody else's novel.

My mother turned into a professional widow. She couldnt understand why I wanted to be an engineer; she thought I should be a chicken farmer.

I was trying to find out what it was that everybody else understood without giving up my stubborn and hard-won lack of understanding.