If only we could touch the things of this world at their center, if we could only hear tiny leaves of birch struggling toward April, then we would know.

The only thing we all agree on, virtually every poet in this country, is that this Administration is really frightening, and we want something done about it.

Nothing will change until we demolish the "we-they" mentality. We are human, and therefore all human concerns are ours. And those concerns are personal.

It would be nice if all the Republicans could put poetry in a little box and put the box under the bed and sit on it, but they can't.

I'm basically a poetry scholar, and I'm happier here in my studio with my row of Chinese dictionaries than I am, frankly, at Lincoln Center.

Of course, there are some people who behave rudely. Allen Ginsberg used to like to get up in public and take his clothes off. I don't do that, but I liked Allen Ginsberg. He was a nice guy.

I think a lot of American poets are swimming-pool Soviets. A lot of them have taken the comfortable, self-protective route too often. I know that I certainly have. That's easy to do.

George W. Bush is using language that's a mirror image of the language of Osama bin Laden when he says, "We have God on our side. This is the struggle of good against evil."

I'm a poet who practices Zen. And it's not, I'm somebody who practices Zen who writes poetry. There's no separation for me.

Sometimes people come up and they get infatuated with some little brief imagistic poem or something, and they say, "Oh, I really like your Zen poems." And I say, "Which ones are not Zen poems?"

Each of us as poets, as decent suffering human beings, has to find a way to run our lives that is compassionate toward one another and toward our environment.

Baby is baby.

Ignore the reek of feces in the air, the bloodstains on the ground, and you have yourself a glorious night.

I was tired. Tired of men, tired of moving, tired of being scared, tired of being confused. But who was I kissing? I'm not one to sit quietly, anywhere.

The opposite of a fact is falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth.

Laughter is the most healthful exertion.

New York is obviously the capital of theater.

Reflectors need to be placed on trees every 50 feet so people can hike at night with flashlights.

Businesses want to offer solid, affordable health insurance to their employees, but it is getting harder to find every year.

I think most directors subscribe to the principle that less is more, and the best direction is the most concise direction.

live your life as if you may lose everything.