Anyone can express himself or herself, but what writers and poets want to do in their work, more than simply express themselves, is communicate.

There was this funny thing of anything could happen now that we realized everything had.

You're...writing for other writers to an extent-the dead writers whose work you admire, as well as the living writers you like to read.

I’d like to go out in the front yard and shout something. “None of this is worth it!” That’s what I’d like people to hear.

I think a little menace is fine to have in a story. For one thing, it's good for the circulation.

You have to have been in love to write poetry.

Happiness. It comes on unexpectedly. And goes beyond, really, any early morning talk about it.