She was afraid to suggest to him that to most people, nothing "happens." That most people merely live from day to day until they die. That, after he had been dead a year, doubtless fewer than five people would think of him oftener than once a year. That there might even come a year when no one on earth would think of him at all.

I swear to keep the dead upon my mind, / Disdain for all time to be overglad.

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

When white and black meet today, sometimes there is a ready understanding that there has been an encounter between two human beings. But often there is only, or chiefly, an awareness that Two Colors are in the room.

Poetry is life distilled.

Exhaust the little moment. Soon it dies. And be it gash or gold it will not come again in this identical guise.

I tell poets that when a line just floats into your head, don't pay attention 'cause it probably has floated into somebody else's head.