I would say that when I write prose I'm a more socially responsible person. I'm much more a citizen of the world. But the instability of the poetry, the emotional jaggedness, is also me.

I resist thinking of myself as a teacher. I think of myself as a writer who has pulled a fast one and hoodwinked this institution into giving me a job and health insurance.

These new theories of the universe, that there are multiple universes just bubbling up constantly - it's all pretty wild.

You probably have to split yourself in various ways just in order to survive, and to think of yourself as a multitude.

All ideas about identity, of course, fit perfectly into the social media wonderland we live in. They seem to really connect. There's a science-fiction aspect to our contemporary life. What's virtual, what's real.

I was always a reader. In the fifth grade, I got some sort of prize for having read hundreds of books from the library.

It's important for all writers to try to figure out what they're doing.