What I'm trying to do is to tell young people that I teach them how to breathe before I teach the haiku. That one breath, that one breath, because the haiku keeps you alive. It keeps you going. If you learn how to breath the haiku, you learn how to breathe. If you learn how to breathe, you're much healthier.

The black artist is dangerous. Black art controls the 'Negro's' reality, negates negative influences, and creates positive images.

I write to tell the truth about the black condition as I see it. Therefore, I write to offer a black woman's view of the world.

The words loved me and I loved them in return.

Art... reacts to or reflects the culture it springs from.

...I write to keep in contact with our ancestors and to spread truth to people.

I shall become, I shall become a collector of me. And put meat on my soul.