Everybody Who's Anybody Longs To Be A

From The Time I Began To Read, As A Child, I Loved To Feel Their Heft In My Hand And The Warm Spot Caused By Their Intimate Weight In My Lap; I Loved The Crisp Whisper Of A Page Turning, The Musky Odor Of Old Paper And The Sharp Inky Whiff Of New Pages. Leather Bindings Sent Me Into Ecstasy. I Even Loved To Gaze At A Closed Book And Daydream About The Possibilities Inside.

I Think Children Have Talent And Insight, But It Gets Beaten Out Of Them.

I Didn't Know Writers Could Be Real Live People, Because I Never Knew Any Writers.

I Have A High Guilt Quotient. A Poem Can Go Through As Many As 50 Or 60 Drafts. It Can Take From A Day To Two Years - Or Longer.

I Was Not Interested In Doing The Plot Of Oedipus In Blackface. I Did Wonder, What Would These People Have Been Like If They Hadn't Been In That Situation?... One Could Look At Oedipus, Or At My Character Augustus, As A Cynical Schemer Who Did Everything Because He Was Hungry For Power. But That's Just Too Easy. I'm More Interested In How Humans Can Embody Conflicting Goals And Emotions.