I write poems to find out why I write them

Love doesn't need a reason. Hate needs a reason.

One writes a poem when one is so taken up by an emotional concept that one is unable to remain silent.

A poem is a window that hangs between two or more human beings who otherwise live in darkened rooms.

Actions have consequences. Ignorance about the nature of those actions does not free a person from responsibility for the consequences. (28)

It was as if pain were a room he had entered and the door had been locked behind him.

I'm reading a manuscript by Rodney Jones, "Village Prodigies",it's one of the best contemporary poetry books I've ever read ever.

Each thing I do, I rush through, so I can do something else.

Baudelaire's L'Héautontimorouménos was long seen to be a sexual sadomasochistic poem, it is now generally accepted that the poem is about writing poetry.

I can't believe there is a poet who hasn't eagerly put down a word one day, only to erase it the next day deciding it was sheer lunacy. It's part of the process of selection.

Many of my poems try to use a comic element to reach a place that isn't comic at all. The comic element works as a surprise. It is unexpected and energizing.

Sometimes, when I couldn’t afford to pay the utility bill at the end of the month, I was forced to read by the light of the stories themselves.

Pursue what catches your heart, not what catches your eye.

Fashion's not about looking back. It's always about looking forward.

Never be afraid to tread the path alone. Know which is your path and follow it wherever it may lead you; do not feel you have to follow in someone else's footsteps.

To the best of my knowledge and belief, the average American newspaper, even of the so-called better sort, is not only quite as bad as Upton Sinclair says it is, but 10 times worse

If the states had to vote on slavery, we would have lost the vote.

All ego really is, is our opinions, which we take to be solid, real, and the absolute truth about how things are.

I love being funny! I started in the theater when I was 9 and, believe it or not, always played the funny part!

I can play punk rock, and I love playing punk rock, but I was into every other style of music before I played punk rock.

Christianity is not "Jesus is our example." Christianity is "Jesus is our substitute."