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

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.

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.

If a poem is not memorable, there's probably something wrong. One of the problems of free verse is that much of the free verse poetry is not memorable.

Looking flash without the cash is worthless!

Let his name be cleared and everyone else adjust their thinking. He had put in time, now they must do the work. His business was simple. Find Cecilia and love her, marry her and live without shame.

You know what, when you screw up in the ring, it's so embarrassing.

People who believe they cause good things tend to like themselves better than people who believe good things come from other people or circumstances.

I like looking at the stars on a clear night

I am the type that cannot stay put in living in the past and solely in the past. It's not healthy and it doesn't feel right.

I am never wrong when it comes to my possibilities.

I like you being the sinner you are. -Adrian Ivashkov

I currently live in the Plaza in New York and I love it - all that history, all those interesting stories.

The uses of government should be to foster, protect and promote the possession of equality.