Being true to yourself really means being true to all the complexities of the human spirit.

The sound of the mandolin is a very curious sound because it's cheerful and melancholy at the same time, and I think it comes from that shadow string, the double strings.

Going to the library was the one place we got to go without asking for permission. And they let us choose what we wanted to read. It was a feeling of having a book be mine entirely.

I write short stories, and I wrote a play.

The poetry that sustains me is when I feel that, for a minute, the clouds have parted and I've seen ecstasy or something

Poetry of all the forms of literature I think is the most suited for the digital age and for the shorter attention spans and all of that. It Twitters very easily, some lyric poems and it's very easy to zip a poem to someone, so that's one of the things I think is wonderful about poetry in the digital age.

My favorite poets may not be your bread and butter. I have more favorite poems than favorite poets.