Hedonism can be a rational response to a difficult life.

My other work, teaching, also is satisfying because I can be with people but in controlled circumstances, which aren't as likely to yield the pain of dealing with family.

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

Contradictory strands create an essay that's richly ambivalent.

Most good essays are conversations with yourself - not just your decided thoughts but your dilemmas.

Domesticity has been a challenge for me but painful as it's been, engaging with family has been a school for reducing solipsism and increasing my understanding of people's different reactions to stress.

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