The root and the flower have to trust each other. If the root does not trust, the plant won't blossom.

The signals we give-yes or no, or maybe-/should be clear/the darkness around us is deep.

The Way It Is There’s a thread you follow. It goes among things that change. But it doesn’t change. People wonder about what you are pursuing. You have to explain about the thread. But it is hard for others to see. While you hold it you can’t get lost. Tragedies happen; people get hurt or die; and you suffer and get old. Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding. You don’t ever let go of the thread. ~ William Stafford ~

It is this impulse to change the quality of experience that I recognize as central to creation. . . . Out of all that could be done, you choose one thing. What that one thing is, nothing else can tell you--you come at it over unmarked snow.

You can treat experience as a set of surprises on which to exercise your quirky self.

What you have to do as a writer is . . . write day in and day out no matter what happens.

Kids: they dance before they learn there is anything that isn't music.