I was a lower middle-class kid. My family had no money. There was no room in our small house where there were already four kids, including myself, living.

Wisdom was a teapot, pouring from above. Desolation angels, served it up with love.

If I have any regrets, I could say that I'm sorry I wasn't a better writer or a better singer...When I was younger, I felt it was my duty to wake people up. I thought poetry was asleep. I thought rock 'n' roll was asleep...An artist may have burdens the ordinary citizen doesn't know, but the ordinary citizen has burdens that many artists never even touch.

I always know that everything I do is the best I could do.

I think its very important to not be afraid to experience joy in the middle of sorrow.

Remember, we are mortal, but poetry is not.

My mother had no end of tragedy in her life. She would make herself get up and take a deep breath and go out and do laundry. Hang up sheets.