My heart is not peripheral to me.

Bisexuality means I am free and I am as likely to want to love a woman as I am likely to want to love a man, and what about that? Isn't that what freedom implies?

To tell the truth is to become beautiful, to begin to love yourself, value yourself. And that's political, in its most profound way.

Poetry is a political act because it involves telling the truth.

Like a lot of Black women, I have always had to invent the power my freedom requires.

We do not deride the fears of prospering white America. A nation of violence and private property has every reason to dread the violated and the deprived.

Maybe the purpose of being here, wherever we are, is to increase the durability and occasions of love among and between peoples.

Overall, white men run America. From nuclear armaments to the filth and jeopardy of New York City subways to the cruel mismanagement of health care, is there anything to boast about?

Body and soul, Black America reveals the extreme questions of contemporary life, questions of freedom and identity: How can I be who I am?

To tell the truth is to become beautiful.

If you are free, you are not predictable and you are not controllable.

Be compassionate with all people. Give them the chance to change.

I won't do that when I'm a parent. I'll make different mistakes, of course.

A loyal pet is better than a faithless friend.

My job involves a lot of sitting on aeroplanes and a lot of walking in high heels! I find yoga helps with both.

I hear a lot of talk today about xenophobia. Is it really phobia if you have something to be afraid of?

Really, all you need to become a good knitter are wool, needles, hands, and slightly below-average intelligence. Of course superior intelligence, such as yours and mine, is an advantage.

I realized that if I wanted to truly talk about vastness and the sublime and scale and the West - recurrent themes in my overall work - I needed to engage with the vast ocean that is Los Angeles.

I'm just stayin' humble, and true. It's good right now baby - staying' true baby.

Nothing happens until you decide.

When reading, only read. When eating, only eat. When thinking, only think.