I think poetry can lead to policy, and I can hear the laughter when I say that.

Because I write intuitively and image-by-image and moment-by-moment, my writing has to be powered by feelings and emotions.

People seem very comfortable having a kind of Cheesecake Factory-type of life.

I was on the wrong side of colonization. My ancestry is mostly mired in having the colonial experience as colonized subjects, first as slaves and then as independent subjects with a post-colonial experience.

I try to be even-handed and fair-minded about my view of history. I don't romanticize one side and demonize the other, though I do think that if you're suffering a lot, especially in the Bob Marley sense, suffering becomes a kind of university out of which you'll learn some hard lessons.

With kids, they force you to get out of bed. They force you to smile. They remind you of spontaneity.

Once I became historically aware, I realized there are these formative moments of history tied around tragedy and disaster and sacrifice, that led people to survive and take stock and move on with some kind of notion of betterment.