I hope that, reading 'Rosa,' people will remember their own family and friends and talk about what they did and did not do.

Poetry and music are very good friends. Like mommies and daddies and strawberries and cream - they go together.

There're two people in the world that are not likeable: a master and a slave.

There is always something to do. There are hungry people to feed, naked people to clothe, sick people to comfort and make well. And while I don't expect you to save the world I do think it's not asking too much for you to love those with whom you sleep, share the happiness of those whom you call friend, engage those among you who are visionary and remove from your live those who offer you depression, despair and disrespect.

I resent people who say writers write from experience. Writers don't write from experience, though many are hesitant to admit that they don't. I want to be clear about this. If you wrote from experience, you'd get maybe one book, maybe three poems. Writers write from empathy.

Everything will change. The only question is growing up or decaying.