My generation of young female writers discovered that we could dictate the form and content of our own fiction.

we need poetry most at those moments when life astounds us with losses, gains, or celebrations. We need it most when we are most hurt, most happy, most downcast, most jubilant. Poetry is the language we speak in times of greatest need. And the fact that it is an endangered species in our culture tells us that we are in deep trouble.

The hardest part is believing in yourself at the notebook stage. It is like believing in dreams in the morning.

Everyone's a little crazy when you get inside their head... it's only a matter of degree.

The dilemma is that if one does not risk anything one risks even more.

Sex doesn't disappear, it just changes forms.

A man assumes that a woman's refusal is just part of a game. Or, at any rate, a lot of men assume that. When a man says no, it's no. When a woman says no, it's yes, or at least maybe. There is even a joke to that effect. And little by little, women begin to believe in this view of themselves.