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Sometimes the only way I know how to work through something is by writing a poem. And sometimes I get to the end of the poem and look back and go, 'Oh, that's what this is all about,' and sometimes I get to the end of the poem and haven't solved anything, but at least I have a new poem out of it.

I get overwhelmed when I approach things intellectually.

Try to put well in practice what you already know. In so doing, you will, in good time, discover the hidden things you now inquire about.

I try very hard to handle things equally: ideas, materials, and images.

I've started lots of books, but it's hard for me to finish them.

Whenever I do a book, I'm usually guided by a question or something that I'm trying to tease out.

I've had times in my life when I really haven't been able to figure myself out.

It's the way I study - to understand something by trying to work it out or, in other words, to understand something by creating it. Not creating it one hundred percent, of course; but taking a hint as to which direction to go but not remembering the details. These you work out for yourself.

I keep one simple rule that I only move in one direction - I write the book straight through from beginning to end. By following time's arrow, I keep myself sane.

But I've been at writing long enough now to know that every three or four books I have to start a new direction.