I just said let's get some poets on tv. And when they said that sounded unlikely, I made it worse. I said, no man, I want to put a bunch of black poets on stage, too. Some Latino poets who barely speak English and Asian poets who can't believe how discriminated against they are. It was luck nad being in the right place. I wasn't saying nothing somebody else wasn't saying but they wouldn't hear it from them.

Success is happiness. People say, "Oh that sounds corny." No matter how rich you are you can only sit your ass in one seat at a time. You have to be comfortable in that seat.

Hip-hop is a voice for voiceless poor people.

I don't want to appease everyone. It seems very difficult to be steadfast on truth and be a politician.

Black actors on the road, flying around the country working as poets. Those people are inspirations for millions of kids who write.

The poets who do this are uniquely conscious of this silence, this stillness.

What I would do to change this planet is have everyone meditate and look inside. Then we'd have a happier, more service-oriented, less-needy world.