“This is no occupation for an adult who can look other adults in the eye, carry his own weight, and count himself one of them.”

“What I would say is this: writing poems doesn't make you a poet. … It is only with poetry, for some reason, that everyone wants to believe they can try their hand at it once in a while and be considered, can call themselves a poet. … . It's a craft. It's an art. It's a skill. It is not therapy, and it is not compensation for terrible things in one's life. It is a thing in itself. You devote yourself to being an instrument of it, or you wander forever in the belief that it is a form of "self-expression." … And I explained very clearly my opinion of what I think a poet, an artist is. Someone who puts this thing first. ”

“Poem in other words may or may not result from inspiration but must (in reader and author alike) produce it--”

“The long silences need to be loved, perhaps more than the words which arrive to describe them in time.”

“no one is a stranger, this whole world is your home”

“I believe one day the distance between myself and God will / disappear.”

“EPITAPHNow I'm not the brightestknife in the drawer, butI know a couple thingsabout this life: povertysilence, impermanencediscipline and mysteryThe world is not illusory, we areFrom crimson thread to toe tagIf you are not disturbedthere is something seriously wrong with you, I'm sorryAnd I know who I amI'll be a voicecoming from nowhere,inside--be glad for me.”