Poetry is the most informative of all of the arts because everything comes down to poetry. No matter what it is we are describing, ultimately we use either a metaphor; or we say "that's poetry in motion." You drink a glass of wine and say, "that's poetry in a bottle." Everything is poetry, so I think we come down to emotional information. And that's what poetry conveys.

And like an unfaithful mate, once a car has let you down you never sort of trust it again.

We obviously need the truth. We're living in a country of lies.

If I could come back as anything - I'd be a bird, first, but definitely the command key is my second choice.

I was responding to one thing for the woman I knew, and there's another thing for what did she give, right. She [Nina Simone] was a great teacher.

Most of my books are a two-year project. I tend to follow my heart and my mind and research materials where they take me.

The only advice [for new writers and poets] I can offer is to be yourself: not the self someone else wants you to be, but the self you are. Enjoy yourself and your life. But most of all travel and eat. That's how we learn.