I think the job of writing and literature is to encourage each one of us to believe that we're living in a story.

Getting over what you did to me is not why I get out of bed anymore.

... the real heroes of race and culture would always be the people who stepped out of their own line to make a larger circle.

Anyone who says, “Here’s my address, write me a poem,” deserves something in reply. So I’ll tell you a secret instead: poems hide. In the bottoms of our shoes, they are sleeping. They are the shadows drifting across our ceilings the moment before we wake up. What we have to do is live in a way that lets us find them.

I support all people on earth who have bodies like and unlike my body.

Poetry calls us to pause. There is so much we overlook, while the abundance around us continues to shimmer, on its own.

If a teacher told me to revise, I thought that meant my writing was a broken-down car that needed to go to the repair shop. I felt insulted. I didn't realize the teacher was saying, 'Make it shine. It's worth it.' Now I see revision as a beautiful word of hope. It's a new vision of something. It means you don't have to be perfect the first time. What a relief!