[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.

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

Poetry is the most mistaught subject in any school because we teach poetry by form and not by content.

If you don't understand yourself you don't understand anybody else.

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.

Young people coming up who are having difficulty with their so-called celebrity need to get back into their lives. It's your life and you can't let the fact that you do something pretty good take away the joy of it.

Poets can tell the truth as they see it. It’s the author’s story, the author’s voice.