It is as if one by one, the memories you used to harbor decided to retire to the Southern Hemisphere of the brain.

One of the ridiculous aspects of being a poet is the huge gulf between how seriously we take ourselves and how generally we are ignored by everybody else.

A motto I've adopted is, if at first you don't succeed, hide all evidence that you ever tried.

The mind can be trained to relieve itself on paper.

Poetry is like standing on the edge of a lake on a moonlit night and the light of the moon is always pointing straight at you.

Nationalism is a type of insanity in which the boundaries of a land replace God.

In the process of simplifying oneself, one often discovers the thing called voice.

Write the poem only you can write.

But my heart is always propped up in a field on its tripod, ready for the next arrow.

But tonight, the lion of contentment has placed a warm heavy paw on my chest.

While the novelist is banging on his typewriter, the poet is watching a fly in the windowpane.

A student, filled with emotion and crying, implored, "Why is there so much suffering?"Suzuki Roshi replied, "No reason.

If there is no struggle there is no progress.

Lady, you have the wrong number. Our cat isn't even in the hospital. He doesn't want pajamas.

Israel is much worse than the original apartheid state.

Once you break someone of the habit of up-talking, they can start to see immediate improvement in their careers.

Some men succeed by what they know; some by what they do; and a few by what they are.

We have great power to see the truth when the truth is all we wish to see; but what is easier than to credit what we desire? and can a man deceive anyone so easily as himself?

I once saw a picture in the paper of John Hegley with 'poet' written on his knuckles, and I thought that was pretty cool, so I was quite up front about it.

Every period has its own optical focus.

The comics are where all the crazy subconscious stuff comes out.