I wonder, would I have transitioned from female to male if I was 30 years younger? Possibly. But if I had been born even 30 years later, because it seems like the technology will only get better, it seems like one might not ever need to settle down at all.

Literature is love. I think it went like this: drawings in the cave, sounds in the cave, songs in the cave, songs about us. Later, stories about us. Part of what we always did was have sex and fight about it and break each other’s hearts. I guess there’s other kinds of love too. Great friendships. Working together. But poetry and novels are lists of our devotions. We love the feel of making the marks as the feelings are rising and falling. Living in literature and love is the best thing there is. You’re always home.

Part of the glamour of being a poet was always this long reach into the future. You knew you were managing time.

People love discovering you. The thing about not being historically a mainstream writer is that everyone feels like you're theirs, you're their friend.

People loved to talk about how Frank O'Hara didn't really care about getting published. That doesn't jibe with my experience.

Women aren't physically afraid of men; women are genetically afraid of men. It's happened for such a long time.

I'm a poet born in the era of Andy Warhol and a generation that wanted to be famous.