Everybody in the world wants the same thing...to be needed...a job that he/she can do well...to love somebody...Everybody...There's no mystery.

You don't have to tell everything you know, but let what you do say be the truth as you understand it.

The poetry you read has been written for you, each of you - black, white, Hispanic, man, woman, gay, straight.

My son is the best thing that ever happened to me. And through me - to a lot of people.

At our best, we're all teachers

I'm very blessed that I have a healthy temper. I can become quite angry and burning in anger, but I have never been bitter. Bitterness is a corrosive, terrible acid. It just eats you and makes you sick.

Putting down on paper what you have to say is an important part of writing, but the words and ideas have to be shaped and cleaned, cleaned as severely as a dog cleans a bone, cleaned until there's not a shred of anything superfluous.