I like bringing poetry's focus on figurative language and compression into the essay. Of course, the musical properties of language, the cadence of the sentence, are really important to me in prose.

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.

You can be sure that a painter reveals himself in his work as much as and more than a writer does in his.

The greatest conflicts are not between two people but between one person and himself.

We must be what we are, or we become our enemies.

All you need to know about plotting is twofold. 1. Give your characters goals. 2. Don't let them reach those goals.

I have a group of close personal friends that are all my world. My family is my world. And as long as those people are happy with me, then I'm happy with myself.

When the sage stands above people, they are not oppressed. When he leads people, they are not obstructed. The world will exalt him and not grow tired of him.

I accept myself unconditionally right now

As an athlete, confidence makes me more competitive and helps me perform better.

There's a real sense of freedom now. It's a good time to finish, I think. As much as I'm going to miss it I'm ready to move on and do different things.

Life in New York is a constant struggle to die of natural causes.