If trees could speak they wouldn't

The students always, always surprise me.

I also have my backpack of the tried-and-true, and because it is new to [my students], it becomes fresh to me again as well.

We aren't suggesting that mental instability or unhappiness makes one a better poet, or a poet at all; and contrary to the romantic notion of the artist suffering for his or her work, we think these writers achieved brilliance in spite of their suffering, not because of it.

I love people and psychology. As a writer, I’m not so interested in Fred getting from the living room to the car. I want to go inside Fred’s soul and play there.

You are not your poetry. Your self-esteem shouldn't depend on whether you publish, or whether some editor or writer you admire thinks you're any good.

That's how it is sometimes--God comes to your window, all bright light and black wings, and you're just too tired to open it.