I came to teaching late - not until my forties - which is one reason why I'm not burned out.

I like to use research to enlarge the poem. And sometimes a rhetorical or syntactical gesture stitches the poem along.

It's extremely important that, as writers, we give a voice to those who don't have voices, including the other animals that we share the planet with and the places that are endangered or being lost.

Once you realize that human actions affect every bit of earth and sky, you realize that the environment isn't just what surrounds us - it's all one whole.

I am a result of what has happened on this planet - how could I find the art to say that? I can't, and yet, I am drawn to it because of the enormity of it. That seems really important.

Bringing science into poetry is one way of acknowledging some of the richest stuff that is in my cultural moment.

I've been accused of darkness by my inner light.

I don't know much about death and the sorriest lesson I've learned is that words, my most trusted guardians against chaos, offer small comfort in the face of anyone's dying.

What keeps me level is the refusal to let the best of human aspirations die in the face of the challenges. I make a moral decision to be hopeful.

We're nature. Our minds are nature. Our desire to make poetry is nature.

As writers, the world is not about individual expression entirely because we are producing works of literature and getting them out into the world.

Courage is being who you are.Courage is sacred of thyself.

You must learn some of my philosophy. Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure.

Every single person has the power to change the world and help people.

Profound optimism is always on the side of the tortured.

In Spiritual formation we are aiming at a character and life that is so shaped that the deeds of Christ routinely and easily come from what is inside.

In the American political system, you're only allowed to have real ideas if it's absolutely guaranteed that you can't win an election

Equity is the only acceptable goal

So you’ll just kill anyone who frightens you. Who could hurt you.” “Well…yes.

I was raised in Washington, DC in a household where one parent was a Republican and the other was a Democrat, so I got both sides.

They can say whatever they want about my personal life because I know what my personal life is, and it involves a lot of TV and cats and girlfriends.