I write short stories, and I wrote a play.

Can it be that even as one grows to fit the space one lives in, one cannot grow until there's space to grow?

If our children are unable to voice what they mean, no one will know how they feel. If they can’t imagine a different world, they are stumbling through a darkness made all the more sinister by its lack of reference points. For a young person growing up in America’s alienated neighborhoods, there can be no greater empowerment than to dare to speak from the heart — and then to discover that one is not alone in ones feelings.

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

By making us stop for a moment, poetry gives us an opportunity to think about ourselves as human beings on this planet and what we mean to each other.

The American Dream is a phrase we'll have to wrestle with all of our lives. It means a lot of things to different people. I think we're redefining it now

It's the combination of the intimate and the public that I find so exciting about being poet laureate.