The truth is, terrorism flourishes in places of injustice rather than in places of poverty.

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.

I can't imagine how Afghanistan's fall isn't going to be ten times faster than Iraq's.

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

I worked with two young women translators. One died and the other received a death threat from the Taliban.

If we think about folk forms, they belong to disenfranchised people, people who have not been allowed access to the poetry of literature or the leisure time that comes with the pursuit of poetry. Instead, this is ceremony. This is a highly charged way to create a sacred space that isn't necessarily about God, but is about human experience at its most profound levels - whether that's love or grief, separation, or homeland. All are altered states.

I think most good poetry is about suffering; I think that's what underlies the love in these landays pieces - suffering and longing.