Drawing is a way of coming upon the connection between things, just like metaphor in poetry reconnects what has become separated.
Otherwise I don't read much adult poetry at all, because I'm not smart enough and mostly I don't get it.
I have had much to learn from Sweden's poetry and, more especially, from her lyrics of the last generation.
Poetry and prose are of equal importance to me as a reader, and there doesn't seem to be much difference in my own writing.
So I really began as a failed poet - although when I first wanted to be a writer, I learned to write prose by reading poetry.
I began the way nearly everybody I ever heard of - I began writing poetry. And I find that to be quite usual with writers, their trying their hand at poetry.
I used to write sonnets and various things, and moved from there into writing prose, which, incidentally, is a lot more interesting than poetry, including the rhythms of prose.
All through childhood, I wrote verses and mysteries. There is, for me, one connection: structure. My poetry is metrical, rhyming.
As far as I am concerned, poetry is a statement concerning the human condition, composed in verse.
People think of black English as ungrammatical, but it bears the same relationship to standard English as contemporary Hebrew does to ancient Hebrew.
Being a monarchist - saying that one small group is born more worthy of respect than another - is just as warped and strange as being a racist.
The closing of a door can bring blessed privacy and comfort - the opening, terror. Conversely, the closing of a door can be a sad and final thing - the opening a wonderfully joyous moment.
It is an awfully sad misconception that librarians simply check books in and out. The library is the heart of a school, and without a librarian, it is but an empty shell.
My comedy is for children from three to 93. You do need a slightly childish sense of humour and if you haven't got that, it's very sad.
If I don't make it, I'll be very sad that there are things I didn't do, but I'm happy that I've done what I have.
Persecutions are inevitable as a Christian. We are not greater than our Master, Jesus Christ, in whose Holy Spirit we gain strength to endure.
Fact is we went on to do other things. But we still wanted to do our success like rock'n'roll stars.
Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. The real miracle is the love that inspires them. In this sense everything that comes from love is a miracle.
The man I love may decide tomorrow that he loves me no more - but if my heart remains open, I will endure the storm.
Most comics worship music on some level. It's more rock-n-roll to get up there for an hour and make people laugh.
The boy who expects every morning to open into a new world finds that today is like yesterday, but he believes tomorrow will be different.
