The urge to write poetry is like having an itch. When the itch becomes annoying enough, you scratch it.

The lack of a sense of history is the damnation of the modern world.

Dirt's a funny thing,' the Boss said. 'Come to think of it, there ain't a thing but dirt on this green God's globe except what's under water, and that's dirt too. It's dirt makes the grass grow. A diamond ain't a thing in the world but a piece of dirt that got awful hot. And God-a-Mighty picked up a handful of dirt and blew on it and made you and me and George Washington and mankind blessed in faculty and apprehension. It all depends on what you do with the dirt. That right?

Reality is not a function of the event as event, but of the relationship of that event to past, and future, events.

There is no country but the heart.

I've been to a lot of places and done a lot of things, but writing was always first. It's a kind of pain I can't do without.

If you look at a thing, the very fact of your looking changes it...if you think about yourself, that very fact changes you.