In the best nonfiction, it seems to me, you're always made aware that you are being engaged with a supple mind at work. The story line or plot in nonfiction consists of the twists and turns of a thought process working itself out.

In new work, we need to see the shadow, however faint, of previous literary effort.

Indeed, at times it's best to shut up.

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.

The knowledge that my discriminations are skewed and not always universally desirable doesn't stop me in the least from making them.

The essay must be artistically rendered: You must keep the reader engaged, whether with wit, conflict, mischief, and/or yes, with honesty.