In the later books I am much more at home in the use of language to describe things. I had never thought of that until a critic pointed that out.

You have to really dive deep back into yourself and get rid of so much modern analytical categorization. It's one of the great things poetry does.

It was less a literary thing than a linguistic, philosophical preoccupation... discovering how far you can go with language to create immediate, elementary experience.

I have taught students from the New York City area so long I have a special affinity and rapport with them. It surprises me sometimes that there are students from anywhere else.

Distance not only gives nostalgia, but perspective, and maybe objectivity.

A lot of my students are Asian-American, and it has been thrilling to watch them break through the stereotypes into something alive and surprising.

Maybe the example of Southern fiction writing has been so powerful that Southern poets have sort of keyed themselves to that.

I seem to keep returning to my father in poems because his personality was so extreme, so driven. He did everything to excess.

Fiction is about intimacy with characters, events, places.

Some people want to call me an Appalachian writer, even though I know some people use regional labels to belittle.

The young people have MTV and rock and roll. Why would they go to read poetry? Poetry belongs to the Stone Age. It awakens in us perceptions that go back to those times.

Standing there, staring at the long shelves crammed with books, I felt myself relax and was suddenly at peace.

If I'd thought, "I can't really play this instrument," I wouldn't have done it! But I didn't care, you know. I didn't care!

I try not to always use self-check-out and things like that!

One marvel of a day he had walked so far that when he returned the moon was high and full and all the world was purple shadow and silver.

Believe in no other God than the one who insists on justice and equality among men.

Liberals and conservatives are looking for entirely different things. Their attitudes toward romance and how they court are really dramatically different. There's almost no overlap.

Perhaps we have been misguided into taking too much responsibility from our children, leaving them too little room for discovery

A party in the orange grove. The pain on Linden's face is immediate. I am unwavering. He has cost me more pain than I will ever be able to repay.

May love fill your heart, compassion guide your mind, faith rule your soul.

Goal setting will never stop. I will continue to work hard and practice hard and see where things go.