There are characters in [punk] that do deliberately go as far as they can in certain kind of taboo areas.

I decided I wanted out because it was killing me, and I couldnt see where to go with it that wouldnt be fatal.

It's really interesting with art-movies too, but art especially - to see how your attitude toward artists and works and your level of appreciation of them is always shifting and changing over the years.

I've come to think of myself as a writer of books.

I never thought I would write an autobiography, probably because my first novel, Go Now, is really all drawn from my life, even though it's more about the psychology going on.

In fact I thought life was pretty much a losing proposition, and I didn't mind saying so.

Poetry's always dead, you know? You don't realize how good poetry is until 15 years later.