But I also say this: that light is an invitation to happiness, and that happiness, when it's done right, is a kind of holiness, palpable and redemptive.

A dog can never tell you what she knows from the smells of the world, but you know, watching her, that you know almost nothing.

I consider myself kind of a reporter - one who uses words that are more like music and that have a choreography. I never think of myself as a poet; I just get up and write.

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

But I also say this: that light is an invitation to happiness, and that happiness, when it's done right, is a kind of holiness, palpable and redemptive.

Walks work for me. I enter some arena that is neither conscious or unconscious.

Far off in the red mangroves an alligator has heaved himself onto a hummock of grass and lies there, studying his poems.