Sometimes you do have to laugh to keep from crying. And sometimes the world feels all right and good and kind of like it's becoming nice again around you. And you realize it, and realize how happy you are in it, and you just gotta laugh.

I think boys don't always like to read books with female protagonist - I don't even know what to say about this.

If I loved someone enough, I would go anywhere in the world with them." —Staggerlee

What you say is what matters.

Where I grew up, it was all people who were black and Latino, people who look like me. Now I live in a neighborhood where very, very few people look like me.

I've learned a lot as a writer about poetry.

That's what writing is. It's moving past your fear.