My generation was not only maligned in book reviews and attacked in graduate school but we lived to see our adored and adorable daughters wonder why feminism had become a dirty word.

What are the sources of poetry? Love and death and the paradox of love and death. All poetry from the beginning is about Eros and Thanatos. Those are the only subjects. And how Eros and Thanatos interweave.

Every country gets the circus it deserves. Spain gets bullfights. Italy the Church. America Hollywood.

Ambivalence is a wonderful tune to dance to. It has a rhythm all its own.

At certain historic moments, grandparents took on childrearing responsibilities. In many cultures, they still do. Chinese grandparents who are able to retire at 55 are seen all over Beijing bouncing grandbabies. In the United States, we can't afford to retire at 55.

You don't get to choose what you get famous for and you don't get to control which of your life's many struggles gets to stand for you.

I write lustily and humorously. It isn't calculated; it's the way I think. I've invented a writing style that expresses who I am.