Until people see poetry as springing from all of life, they will isolate it in a creativity corner and treat it like a mascot.

Confession makes you a more trustworthy narrator.

Contradictory strands create an essay that's richly ambivalent.

You must read a lot of personal essays - you needn't reinvent the wheel.

... I vowed that I would always respect the right of an individual to kill himself. Whether suicide was a moral or immoral act I no longer felt sure, but of the dignity of its intransigence I was convinced.

I'm fortunate in being able to find great satisfaction in my work.

Have fun writing, because it enhances both the writer's and reader's experience.