Fanatics are, for one thing, boring and, for another, unreliable. They tend to burn out just when you need them.

We must invest in tomorrow. And pay our teachers for teaching as we pay our coaches for coaching.

Poems don't have to rhyme... Poems are about beauty and emotion; in other words poems are about feelings.

Poetry is music though, unfortunately, not all music is poetry. Because music has other carriers to take its message - beats, lyrics, singers, bass players - anyone in music can rise to make a major statement but in poetry there are only words to do the work. And they do sometimes have to sweat.

Daddy says the world is a drum tight and hard and I told him I'm gonna beat out my own rhythm.

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

Deal with yourself as a individual, worthy of respect and make everyone else deal with you the same way.