I am a writer perhaps because I am not a talker.

I don't like the idea of the black race being diluted out of existence. I like the idea of all of us being here.

Truth-tellers are not always palatable. There is a preference for candy bars.

She was learning to love moments. To love moments for themselves.

Be careful what you swallow. Chew!

I am an ordinary human being who is impelled to write poetry. ... I still do feel that a poet has a duty to words, and that words can do wonderful things, and it's too bad to just let them lie there without doing anything with and for them.

The civil rights situation is like a pregnancy. It will get worse, I believe, before it gets better. What the usual pregnancy comes to is a decent baby. That is what we all hope will be the end product of this stress. It is customary, at the end of a pregnancy, to have for your pains a decent baby.