Favorite poems are like favorite children. We definitely have them but we never tell as the others would have their feelings hurt.

I want to be clear about this. If you wrote from experience, you'd get maybe one book, maybe three poems. Writers write from empathy.

Violence is like money in the bank; it's only helpful if you don't have to use it.

I think life is cotton candy on a rainy day. For those who grew up with cotton candy the old-fashioned way, it is very delicate. Pre-made cotton candy that has preservatives is not nearly as good or true. True cotton candy is sugar, color, and air and it melts very quickly. That was the metaphor - it can't be preserved, it can't be put aside, it can't be banked. It has to be experienced, like life.

A lot of people refuse to do things because they don't want to go naked... . We as black people, we as people, we as the human species have got to get used to the fact we're not going to be right most of the time, not even when our intentions are good. We've got to go naked and see what happens.

the world is not a pleasant place to be without someone to hold and be held by.

I think that too many strangers were in her [Nina Simone's] life, and not enough people that she knew and loved.