I write the poems first, with only a few exceptions for odd reasons, where I'm given the illustration first.

In masks and gown we haunt the street And knock on doors for trick or treat Tonight we are the king and queen, For oh tonight it's Halloween!

My reading is extremely eclectic. Lately I've been teaching myself computer graphics, so I'm reading a lot about that. I read books of trivia, of facts.

A poet is not something you become; a poet is something you are.

Then I decided to draw from and on my own imagination, and everything came out perfect.

She comes by night, in fearsome flight, in garments black as pitch, the queen of doom upon her broom, the wild and wicked witch.

We all need ways to express ourselves, and poetry is one of mine.

I'm mostly influenced by life, what's around me, and my own childhood.

Writing gives me the opportunity to explore ideas, play with language, solve problems, use my imagination, and draw on my own childhood.

Poetry seems to sink into us the way prose doesn't. I can still quote verses I learned when I was very young, but I have trouble remembering one line of a novel I just finished reading.

Children seem naturally drawn to poetry - it's some combination of the rhyme, rhythm, and the words themselves.

Never lose hope, and if you can, find the courage to love again.

Life is not about our personal missions through God, it's about God's mission through our designed purpose.

I don't care about the politics, I don't care about the practicality, I don't care about any of it.

In discussing Barbarism and Christianity I have actually been discussing the Fall of Rome.

Think higher, feel deeper.

Was it a light only she could see? A gypsy's spell? A mystery?

I think that's a legitimate thing we're going to have to deal with and ask ourselves, you know, how far Donald Trump can go in enacting certain policies that target specific groups.

Pawns are born free, yet they are everywhere in chains

Take a relief. You draw it, you carve it out. Later you build it up from a flat surface. There is no other way to do a sculpture - you either add or you subtract.