“It only takes one line, from one poem to change your world...What has poetry done for you lately?”

“I've been coming to this circle for about five years, and measuringit. The diameter and the circumference are constantly changing, butthe radius stays the same. Which brings me to the number 5. There arefive letters in the word Blaine. Now, if you mix up the letters in theword Blaine, mix 'em around, eventually, you'll come up with Nebali.Nebali. The name of a planet in a galaxy way, way, way... way faraway. And another thing. Once you go into that circle, the weathernever changes. It is always 67 degrees with a 40% chance of rain.”

“I guess the lesson to be learned from the [Catholic] church is that while homosexuality is a sin against GOD, molestation and rape, well... they're just sins against a child.”

“I wonder if God cries. Or gets sad, even. Or happy. Or elated. Does he ever have a good belly laugh? Does he sense contentment? Does he feel pride or remorse? Is he stoic? We know from the Old Testament that he experiences bloodthirsty, murderous rage and fierce pride. He imbued mankind with all of these emotions, but it's hard to imagine him feeling any of these. It's almost a little embarrassing to think of him feeling jealousy. Of course he's WAY more advanced and evolved than we are. So I guess the ultimate stage of humanity is when we don't laugh or cry or experience emotion at all. God gave us laughter as a constant remind of what lesser-evolved beings humans are. Stupid humans!”

“I have always tried to use humor to "help ever" and "hurt never," for I find that to laugh is like swallowing a secret that Santa Claus farted.”

“Abandoned babies are unfortunate unwanted results of a once urgent desire to have an orgasm”

“The poet lives and writes at the frontier between deep internal experience and the revelations of the outer world. There is no going back for the poet once this frontier has been reached; a new territory is visible and what has been said cannot be unsaid. The discipline of poetry is in overhearing yourself say difficult truths from which it is impossible to retreat. Poetry is a break for freedom. In a sense all poems are good; all poems are an emblem of courage and the attempt to say the unsayable; but only a few are able to speak to something universal yet personal and distinct at the same time; to create a door through which others can walk into what previously seemed unobtainable realms, in the passage of a few short lines.”