It isn't like when John died, when there were a lot of people there. I think this time she wanted to do it more by herself. Somebody told me there's an African blessing, 'May we be buried by our children.' It's obviously the hardest loss.

I don't mind being compared to Tolstoy literarily, but when it comes to Fun Stats it's a little humiliating.

You know, I used to say, when people say, 'How do you think about what to write about in the poems every week?' And I say, 'Well, I have to turn it in on Monday, so on Sunday nights I turn the shower to iambic pentameter and it sort of works out that way.'

I don't think I've ever read a food piece or a food book.

I've written three books you could think of as memoirs.

We all know funny people who can't get it down on the page - even funny writers who can't get it down on the page.