There is a physics to the world, which non-fiction has a contract to stand in awe of, otherwise it becomes completely self-centered and ego-driven, which is the death of a memoir.

Certain stories we carry with us, events in our life, they define who we are. It's not a matter of getting over anything; we have to make the best of it.

I became an electrician after high school. But I always had this thing in me to write. But it was always a little shameful. To say you were a poet was saying you were kind of crazy, and I carried that around for a long time. I still kind of carry that. And I think it might be true, actually.

That soldiers do terrible things during wartime should not surprise us.

When I was a child, writing was the worst possible choice of a career in my family.

I believe poetry has very little to do with memory.

Who doesn't want to just disappear, at some point in the day, in a year, to just step off the map and float?