The idea of avant-garde art is a very suspicious thing to me, the idea that poetry is new and it keeps being new the way Chevrolets every year are new.

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.

Developing a true and solid character and finding unique traits that belong to only you is a foundational thing

Just get it right, “it is not too late to dream”. You can do it now! This very moment, I mean right now! Let’s begin!

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.

Rowing is such a fine sport. Everyone goes backward, and the leader can see his opponents as they struggle in vain.

Always embrace the common humanity that lies at the heart of us all.

If wits were pins, the man would be a veritable hedgehog.

Although I haven't met Madhuri Dixit in person, I find her very beautiful on screen. I also find Manisha Koirala beautiful.

I would love to have my own shoe line. That I would absolutely love.

You are searching for the magic key that will unlock the door to the source of power; and yet you have the key in your own hands, and you may use it the moment you learn to control your thoughts.

Three problems we have: lack of boundaries, insufficient language, incompletions.