School should be eleven months of the year.

Some say we are responsible for those we love. Others know we are responsible for those who love us.

Poetry and music are very good friends. Like mommies and daddies and strawberries and cream - they go together.

We [Black people] have always used our creativity to battle and we're not the only ones. Black Americans are certainly leaders in that simply because we were denied education and dealt with enforced illiteracy. But people seem to always forget that literacy is not the only way of learning things or conveying knowledge.

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

There is always something to do. There are hungry people to feed, naked people to clothe, sick people to comfort and make well. And while I don't expect you to save the world I do think it's not asking too much for you to love those with whom you sleep, share the happiness of those whom you call friend, engage those among you who are visionary and remove from your life those who offer you depression, despair and disrespect.

I'm an old storyteller. I tell the story. It's about the story.