Being blocked, being uncertain, sitting there not knowing, waiting, abiding with it: this is the work. If you don't have the tolerance for that you're in great trouble. If you want to call it a writer's block... that doesn't seem a very useful name for that kind of abiding that I think is the essence of the work.

Art is about eliminating almost everything in order to focus on the thing that you need to talk about.

I'm learning to hate the sound of my own voice.

What age is a black boy when he learns he's scary?

Anyone could see it all coming and no one could possibly stop it and that was the beautiful thing. Friday night was open wide and writ in stone

I try not to become too regular an addict of any one subculture.

I have a horror of silence while I'm writing. It's like the universe is howling at me if I don't have it.