The Body Is Simple As A Turtle

Every Poet Has A Certain Amount Of "stuff." That's What You Draw From For Imagery. The More Stuff You Know Well, Not Simply Intellectually But Sensually, Emotionally, Intimately, The Wider The Pool From Which You Draw.

I Will Choose What Enters Me, What Becomes Flesh Of My Flesh. Without Choice, No Politics, No Ethics Lives. I Am Not Your Cornfield, Not Your Uranium Mine, Not Your Calf For Fattening, Not Your Cow For Milking. You May Not Use Me As Your Factory. Priests And Legislators Do Not Hold Shares In My Womb Or My Mind. If I Give It To You, I Want It Back. My Life Is A Non-negotiable Demand.

I'm Probably The Only Novelist Who Has Ever Written About Political Fugitives Who Actually Knew A Lot About Them, Had Contact With Them, And Had A Realistic Notion Of How They Survived.

The Sense Of Being Jewish Never Left Me, But When My Grandmother Died, I Rebelled Against Judaism As I Knew It Then, Which Was Orthodox. I Saw The Rituals, A Lot Of Them, As Very Male, For A Long Time.

Troubles Cured You Salty As A Country Ham, Smoky To The Taste, Thick-skinned And Tender Inside.