Whereas your blackness, ethnicity, homosexuality is something that might be genetic, I can't touch that, and I have no right.

More people write poetry than read it.

Things I wonder about the FBI's list of the "Ten Most Wanted" criminals: When they catch a guy and he comes off the list, does number eleven automatically move up? And does he see it as a promotion? Does he call his criminal friends and say, "I made it, Bruno. I'm finally on the list"?

If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?

Most of the time people feel okay. Probably it's because at the moment they're not actually dying.

I remember when I was a kid I used to come home from Sunday School and my mother would get drunk and try to make pancakes

There's a part of me that is angry. Not in the sense of, "Gee, George is an angry guy!" I mean, anyone who's been with me five minutes, five years, whatever, they would tell you they've rarely seen me in a moment of anger. Yes, I can become highly irritated in a line that's moving slowly, or with a clerk who's incompetent. But I don't yell. I don't get rude. I am clear about what I expect. In a store, my mother always told me, "Ask for the manager immediately. It changes the tone of the conversation."