'Write' is almost the wrong verb for what I do. I think 'compose' is more accurate because you're trying to make the sounds in your mind and in your voice. So I compose while I'm driving or in the shower.

I think art is not an ornament or refinement at the fringes of human intelligence, I think it's at the center. It's at the core.

I think that we all do heroic things, but hero is not a noun, it's a verb.

When I write songs, when I sing songs, I don't have anybody in mind. I'm just trying to express what I think people are feeling.

The last thing a young artist should do in poetry or any other field is think about what's in style, what's current, what are the trends. Think instead of what you like to read, what do you admire, what you like to listen to in music. What do you like to look at in architecture? Try to make a poem that has some of those qualities.

I think just because you're a mom, it doesn't negate - if anything, you're probably more enhanced - that you're a woman trying to find your place in the world.