We're nature. Our minds are nature. Our desire to make poetry is nature.

I like to use research to enlarge the poem. And sometimes a rhetorical or syntactical gesture stitches the poem along.

It's extremely important that, as writers, we give a voice to those who don't have voices, including the other animals that we share the planet with and the places that are endangered or being lost.

Once you realize that human actions affect every bit of earth and sky, you realize that the environment isn't just what surrounds us - it's all one whole.

I am a result of what has happened on this planet - how could I find the art to say that? I can't, and yet, I am drawn to it because of the enormity of it. That seems really important.

Bringing science into poetry is one way of acknowledging some of the richest stuff that is in my cultural moment.

I've been accused of darkness by my inner light.

I don't know much about death and the sorriest lesson I've learned is that words, my most trusted guardians against chaos, offer small comfort in the face of anyone's dying.

What keeps me level is the refusal to let the best of human aspirations die in the face of the challenges. I make a moral decision to be hopeful.

As writers, the world is not about individual expression entirely because we are producing works of literature and getting them out into the world.

Writers want recognition, audience, some corroboration that all those hours at the desk and in daydreams add up to something in the esteem of others.

A femme fatale and a warrior princess.

The power of belief gives legitimacy to whatever may be necessary.

Loneliness and desperation are only possible when we have lost touch with our beauty within.

A true leader inspires by being among the people, not above them.

Music is about communication... it isn't just something that maybe physically sounds good or orally sounds interesting; it's something far, far deeper than that.

Golf is a game of integrity. And golf is a game of forgiveness. I think the high standards of golf remind people of how lucky they are, or how fortunate they are, to be able to play the game.

And yet more bright Shines out the Julian star, As moon outglows each lesser light. [Lat., Micat inter omnes Iulium sidus, velut inter ignes Luna minores.]

The man who acts never has any conscience; no one has any conscience but the man who thinks

I never ask myself how I do what I do. After all, how does it rain?

Men and women were created for something great, for infinity. Nothing else will ever be enough.