Poems Are Difficult To Silence.

One Of My Favorite Writers Is Michel De Montaigne. My Wife Gave Me A Beautiful 17th-century Edition Of Montaigne's Essays Translated By John Florio. That's Probably My Most Precious Possession.

The Exercise Of Reason Is Not Available Only To Specialists; It Is Accessible To Everyone.

I Have Lots Of Things That Aren't So Old That I Value, Such As A Copy Of Allen Ginsberg's "howl," Which He Signed For Me.

I Believe In Broken, Fractured, Complicated Narratives, But I Believe In Narratives As A Vehicle For Truth, Not Simply As A Form Of Entertainment, Though I Love Entertainment, But Also A Way Of Conveying What Needs To Be Conveyed About The Works That I Care About.

Writing Is A Performance, Like Singing An Aria Or Dancing A Jig