Poetry begins where language starts: in the shadows and accidents of one person's life.

Poetry begins where language starts: in the shadows and accidents of one person’s life.

If I defer the grief I will diminish the gift.

It has always seemed to me a great honor to be called an Irish poet. I don't think I will ever lose that, but it's also a great honor to be a woman poet. I put those things together.

Love will heal What language fails to know

Beauty has as many meanings as man has moods.

. . . We love fog because it shifts old anomalies into the elements surrounding them. It gives relief from a way of seeing

Flesh is heretic. My body is a witch. I am burning it.

Sleep in a world, your final sleep has woken

I have always loved American poetry, which is very different from Irish poetry.

I'm really fortunate to be at Stanford. I go home every 10 weeks, but Stanford apart from being just a wonderful university is one of the places that are part of a great conversation.

But unlike Lachlan and Alison, my demons aren’t self-induced. My demons are fate’s way of telling me I won’t escape unscathed.

You don’t have to have vision to be a visionary

There are almost too many possibilities. Photography is in direct proportion with our time: multiple, faster, instant. Because it is so easy, it will be more difficult.

I have always identified with Joan Didion's depiction of Los Angeles and Southern California, ever since reading 'Play It As It Lays,' 'Slouching Towards Bethlehem' and 'The White Album.'

For me, the measure of a poem is the word, not the line.

It's never hard to sing the blues. Everyone in the world has the blues . . .

Hip-hop is not the problem, our reality is the problem.

Just try to keep your head above water until the boys get back. It's as simple as that.

conceit is the devil's horse, and reformers generally ride it when they are in a hurry.

I did 15 shows a week when I lived in New York. I did five shows on a Friday and seven shows on a Saturday. It was everything I did and it was my sole source of income.