We write because we believe the human spirit cannot be tamed and should not be trained.

I am ever fascinated by the human experience and by, actually, human beings.

I just think she was a wonderful woman. What I think of when I think of Nina [Simone] is someone that I could relate to, who didn't want anything from me, that could relate to me because I didn't want anything from her. It was nice.

Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to the error that counts.

School should be eleven months of the year.

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

I am proud of the hip hop generation. They are good business people and, actually, good people. It's strange that the only time the major press talks about them is when someone gets killed or does drugs or something; yet these are the same press people who made heroes out of the Mafia and other crooks, you know.