My childhood library was small enough not to be intimidating. And yet I felt the whole world was contained in those two rooms. I could walk any aisle and smell wisdom.
I grew up in Ohio, where civil-rights accomplishments had already begun to accelerate before Martin Luther King appeared. In hindsight, we know that many people, black and white, were instrumental in changing the Jim Crow status quo on all levels.
It makes me furious to hear haters of all skin colors – especially Christian, Jewish, and Muslim fundamentalists – deride other people because of their different beliefs and lifestyles.
Creative writing and literacy go hand in hand.
Rap is only one end of a whole spectrum of verbal play and virtuosity. Rap is geared for aural pleasure.
I prefer to explore the most intimate moments, the smaller, crystallized details we all hinge our lives on.
If they don’t read, if they don’t love reading; if they don’t find themselves compulsively reading, I don’t think they’re really a writer.
In working on a poem, I love to revise. Lots of younger poets don’t enjoy this, but in the process of revision I discover things.
What’s a word, a talisman, to hold against the world?
One definition of eternity is that we are not alone on this planet, that there are those who’ve gone before and those who will come, and that there is a community of spirits.
Under adversity, under oppression, the words begin to fail, the easy words begin to fail. In order to convey things accurately, the human being is almost forced to find the most precise words possible, which is a precondition for literature.
The joy of working at something to find out what it means to me is what I grew up with.
Don’t be so fast, you’re all you’ve got.
There are distinct duties of a poet laureate. I plan a reading series at the Library of Congress and advise the librarian. The rest is how I want to promote poetry.
My favorite poets may not be your bread and butter. I have more favorite poems than favorite poets.
I was pirouette and flourish, I was filigree and flame. How could I count my blessings when I didn’t know their names?
I think children have talent and insight, but it gets beaten out of them.
It’s the combination of the intimate and the public that I find so exciting about being poet laureate.
I write short stories, and I wrote a play.
I thought, after the Pulitzer, at least nothing will surprise me quite that much in my life. And another one happened. It was quite amazing.