The library is an arena of possibility, opening both a window into the soul and a door onto the world.

I was pirouette and flourish, I was filigree and flame. How could I count my blessings when I didn't know their names?

Under adversity, under oppression, the words begin to fail, the easy words begin to fail. In order to convey things accurately, the human being is almost forced to find the most precise words possible, which is a precondition for literature.

Nothing is too small. Nothing is too, quote-unquote, ordinary or insignificant. Those are the things that make up the measure of our days, and they're the things that sustain us. And they're the things that certainly can become worthy of poetry.

I have a high guilt quotient. A poem can go through as many as 50 or 60 drafts. It can take from a day to two years - or longer.

I write short stories, and I wrote a play.

I didn't know writers could be real live people, because I never knew any writers.