I try to impress upon my students the importance of looking, listening... paying attention, in other words. You must pay attention.

[To write poems] I think it's important to do research, and research mostly is going to come from books, so all of your reading is potentially helpful to your poetry.

Baseball is already the world's most tranquil sport. It is probably the only active sport where you are not seriously required to be alive to play.

A lot of people resist transition and therefore never allow themselves to enjoy who they are. Embrace the change, no matter what it is; once you do, you can learn about the new world you're in and take advantage of it.

and sometimes I sit down at my typewriter and I think not of someone cause there isn't anyone to think about and i wonder is it worth it

If you were a pure bolt of fire-cutting the skies I'd touch you-risking my life-not because I'm brave or strong, but because I'm fascinated by what the outcome would be.

Show me someone not full of herself and I'll show you a hungry person.