The Poetry That Sustains Me Is When

I Prefer To Explore The Most Intimate Moments, The Smaller, Crystallized Details We All Hinge Our Lives On.

I Thought, After The Pulitzer, At Least Nothing Will Surprise Me Quite That Much In My Life. And Another One Happened. It Was Quite Amazing.

I Was Appointed Poet Laureate. It Came Totally Out Of The Blue Because Most Poet Laureates Had Been Considerably Older Than I. It Was Not Something That I Even Had Begun To Dream About!

Equality And Self-determination Should Never Be Divided In The Name Of Religious Or Ideological Fervor.

At The Very Beginning When I Begin Writing A Poem I Try Not To Think Of The Audience Or Anyone At All Except For Trying To Get At The Very Center Of What Is Driving That Poem. In A Way It's Like Analyzing Myself.