He found it was as easy to hurl beauty as anything else. (On Robert Mapplethorpe)

Outside of society, if you're looking that's where you'll find me.

If the postman is saying hello to you, then I feel like, wow, thats something special.

When I was young, I knew William Burroughs really well. And William's secret desire, which he never quite did, was to write a straightforward detective novel.

I don't care whether they're men or women, that's bullshit. A good writer can get into any gender, can get into any mouth. When I write I may be a Brando creep, or a girl laying on the floor, or a Japanese tourist, or a slob like Richard Speck. You have to be a chameleon when you're writing.

Everybody's got to reclaim these thingspoetry, rock'n'roll, political activismand it's got to be done over and over again. It's like eating: you can't say,'Oh, I ate yesterday'.You have to eat again.

I had gone to Paris to immerse myself in painting and I came back wholly involved in words and rhythms.