All I try to do is portray Indians as we are, in creative ways. With imagination and poetry. I think a lot of Native American literature is stuck in one idea: sort of spiritual, environmentalist Indians. And I want to portray everyday lives. I think by doing that, by portraying the ordinary lives of Indians, perhaps people learn something new.

I look more Indian when I'm serious.

When you resort to violence to prove a point, you’ve just experienced a profound failure of imagination.

You know, people speak in poetry all the time. They just don't realize it.

I think a lot of Indians want Indian artists to be cultural cheerleaders rather than cultural investigators.

I learned how to stop crying. I learned how to hide inside of myself. I learned how to be somebody else. I learned how to be cold and numb.

They put me in a holding cell with a black kid and a white kid and a Chinese kid. We're the United Nations of juvenile delinquents.