He made me realize that hard work--that the act of finishing, of completing, of accomplishing a task--is joyous

We all have to find our own ways to say good-bye.

I know I'll keep writing poems. That's the constant. I don't know about novels. They're hard. It takes so much concentrated effort. When I'm writing a novel it's pretty much all I can do. I get bored. It takes months. Movies do the same thing. It's all-encompassing. It feels like I'm going to end up writing poems, short stories and screenplays.

Let us now celebrate the literary allusion.

Your past is a skeleton walking one step behind you, and your future is a a skeleton walking one step in front of you. Maybe you don't wear a watch, but your skeletons do, and they always know what time it is.

She was in pain and I loved her, sort of loved her, I guess, so I kind of had to love her pain, too.

My father is an amazing man.