As A Writer, You Explore All Kinds

Writing Poetry Is The Hard Manual Labor Of The Imagination.

I Was On A Panel With Light Skinned Blacks And A Famous Gay Science Fiction Writer, Who Were Complaining About How Blacks Are Against Gays And Light Skinned Blacks And How Intolerant Blacks Are Of Different Groups. My Position Was That Blacks Were Among The Most Humanistic, Tolerant Groups In The Country And That Across The Street From My House In Oakland Was One Inhabited By White Gays.

I Have Black Guys Who Tell Me They Put My Books On Their Bed Stands To Read At Night Like Something For Guidance Or Information. That Really Pleases Me A Lot. I Think My Work Has Changed Some Things. It's Changed Me.

I Guess When It Comes To This Privileged White Racist Feminist Movement They Respect Someone Who Treats Them Rough: John Wayne. Frank Sinatra. Phillip Roth.

My Generation Of Writers Has Been Prone To Premature Illness And Death, Especially The Women. When Black Male Writers Meet It's Like A Session Of The American Diabetic Association.