There’s a difference between being alone and being lonely. Writers know that. I have never met a writer who does not crave to be alone. We have to be alone to do what we do.

I'm lucky enough to occasionally be able to do something I love - write poems - and unlucky enough that what I love confuses and overwhelms me.

In one sense, reading is a great waste of time. In another sense, it is a great extension of time, a way for one person to live a thousand and one lives in a single lifespan, to watch the great impersonal universe at work again and again That is why I read: I want everything to be okay. That’s why I read when I was a lonely kid and that’s why I read now that I’m a scared adult.

in the beginning William Shakespeare was a baby, and knew absolutely nothing. He couldn't even speak.

Irreverence is a way of playing hooky and remaining present at the same time.

If we knew the value of suffering, we would ask for it.

Art has always been aware of itself as art.