If we were to see Western landay poems, we'd see them out of disenfranchised populations, maybe out of the legacy of slavery. Spirituals, rap music - that would be the space we'd find American landays in.

The power of the voice in rap is about the expression of truth, rather than the expression of some kind of artifice. Landays, they're about love and pleasure and oppression and levels of oppression within a family. And because of that, I think rap music is probably closely related.

Poetry allows me to write about what I don't know, whereas journalism demands a higher level of certainty to be worthy of being written.

The future of Afghanistan is incredibly dark, and decisions are happening incredibly quickly. Speculation is a fool's game, but I've seen many political projections that look like the Taliban could hold most of the country, and possibly Kabul, within perhaps a short time. I can't imagine how Afghanistan's fall isn't going to be ten times faster than Iraq's. The role of women in that space is terrifying, and the idea of retribution is a nightmare.

The power of the voice in rap is about the expression of truth, rather than the expression of some kind of artifice.

News isn't designed to talk about daily life in its nuances, but poetry is.

We know what war means, and we know what poverty means. We need to develop a better model for reaching out to the world than we have.