I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own way.

One of the hardest things in life to accept is a called third strike.

Poetry is play. I'd even rather have you think of it as a sport. For instance, like football.

Always fall in with what you're asked to accept. Take what is given, and make it over your way. My aim in life has always been to hold my own with whatever's going. Not against: with.

My definition of poetry (if I were forced to give one) would be this: words that have become deeds.

A poem begins with a lump in the throat

People who read me seem to be divided into four groups: twenty-five percent like me for the right reasons; twenty-five percent like me for the wrong reasons; twenty-five percent hate me for the wrong reasons; twenty-five percent hate me for the right reasons. It's that last twenty-five percent that worries me.