To tell the truth is to become beautiful.

Americans have begun to understand that trouble does not start somewhere on the other side of town. It seems to originate inside the absolute middle of the homemade cherry pie.

Revolution always unfolds inside an atmosphere of rising expectations.

Good poetry and successful revolution change our lives. And you cannot compose a good poem or wage a revolution without changing consciousness unless you attack the language that you share with your enemies and invent a language that you share with your allies.

One of the reasons I came to Berkeley was because I saw so many students of all different colors speaking so many different languages and ferociously presenting all these different views. I thought, this is the 21st century and I want to be here!

The music of language became extremely important to me, and obvious to me. By the time I was seven I was writing myself. I was a poet

As I am a poet I express what I believe, and I fight against whatever I oppose, in poetry.