I figure I write for people who are intelligent enough to do some labor. Lazy readers are not my ideal readers.

One of the things I'm constantly telling my students is that they're never going to write a poem everyone gets, or if they do, they've failed. They should leave someone behind every time.

Human suffering is articulated in language; communication is how we seek help, consolation, etc.

Revision is a good impulse to have.

I turned to human suffering because - this may sound odd - animal suffering is more difficult for me to deal with.

I like to move around in the landscape between poetry and prose, between the lyrical and the narrative.

I never try to force poems into a collection simply because they were written/published within a certain period of time. They will eventually find their perfect home.

I enjoy working on a number of projects - books - at once.

I tend to overuse the word "project" only because "book" is terrifying while I'm still in the middle of something. A project can fail. I don't want a book to fail.

I always revise when I publish in a book. So versions in magazines are sometimes slightly different.

I pay editors. I never ask friends or colleagues to work for free.

Living as I do with human beings, the more that I observe them, the more I am forced to conclude that they are selfish.

I shall enter on no encomium upon Massachussets she needs none. There she is. Behold her and judge for yourselves.

The sound of loneliness makes me happier.

My personal feeling about science fiction is that it's always in some way connected to the real world, to our everyday world.

I grew up rock climbing.

Everyone wants to connect with someone who people think is someone.

The egotism of woman is always for two.

What it takes to win is simple, it's not easy.

You know what make me laugh? Good, clean, honest humor. Not-trying-to-be-funny humor.

Not into older guys, huh?" asked Adrian once we were alone. "You're imagining things," I said. "Clearly, my stunning beauty has clouded your mind.