"Freedom of conscience does not mean being uncontrolled - we have to control ourselves and at times submit to others..."

"Evil fascinates and repels us - it's a terrible beauty that enthralls us the more we stare into it..."

"I'm the last person to ask about unrequited love - I've run away to the Moon and fled to its valleys..."

"If you're an artist, you've submitted to authority..."

"Did you know that in your eyes there are bright flecks of green and orange - and that they are lovely?..."

"But you - women like you are dangerous- ominous " take care, Love " men will first fear you, then later, turn you into a deity..."

"Suffering breaks us until there's nothing left but gentleness."

"I see you from afar-fragile and shy as a star gleaming through a cloudy rift."

"That's the essence of me - I don't think, I feel - at best, I think-feel..."

"I am a bed of sparks you breathe upon and kindle."

"Everyone struggles to guard their heart from breaking, when they should desire to have a heart that breaks..."

"When you're broken, everything gets a little honester - you make mistakes and don't give a damn - you give up on perfection, but get real..."

"True love is an irrevocable act - you can only give your heart away once - after that, you give as much as you have left ..."

"I remember your profile in darkness outlined by stars ..."

"People quote proverbs without realizing they're really in awe of the authority of their truth and the power of their expression..."

"A bard's down-to-earth love: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red and when she walks, treads on the ground..."

"You can't rationalize suffering - it's indeterminate - the real unknowable variable God substitutes in..."

"When you're a writer, you become deeper and more uniquely distinct, the more you go inside yourself..."

"All winter the acorns and red Maple leaf moldered in silence - in the same way grief is gnawing at me - slowly, imperceptibly... consuming..."

"A heart never breaks in the same pattern of pieces."

"When I think of you it's with tears, because no one else has such delicate hands that can reach into my soul and calm my fears..."

"I'm constantly agitated, restless - I work moments like worry beads until I see your face..."

"Yes I speak a different language - the dark fire of poetry - it flutters and gutters in tune with the mood..."

"What makes a writer a prophet is his ability to speak truth..."

"...and not out of fear or loneliness, but only to find myself again... for we have come too far my Life, to turn back now..."

"My heart is a desolate field over which geese vee, the sky turns and the days lie fallow..."

"The making of stories is only one part of my craft -mainly, I'm a heart whisperer..."

"When you're hard and unyielding your words score me with lines - I hate lines - I want curves - curves are happy like a snowman ..."

"Is worship too strong a word? yes, I worship you - to worship is to give worth to something " isn't that what love is all about?..."

"These vignettes I sketch for you - what are they? watercolors ..yes and dreams blurred with tears ..."

"It's merely writing, but you have to adjust your ear " I speak quietly " I sob " I whisper..."

"The wind hums low with sweet exultation, sings its lullaby, while you sleep ..."

"After life has broken you open, perhaps you may create art."

"Burnt by the sunof your mouth, I'm unable to speak or paint you with words."

"Each person is required to ask, 'what is my authority?' - on what do you base your decisions? if it's yourself, then you are without excuse..."

"Loving a fairy lady with a magic song will leave you desolate on a cold hillside ... but from there you can see the stars..."

"Every time I look at you autumn leaves come in between - does it matter they're the color of your hair - or they still fall in my memory?..."

"You fantasize about me reading my poems to you - it doesn't work that way - I write down everything later - living is not an after-thought..."

"Authority is the unmistakeable tone in the voice of a true writer..."

"Deb and I were married on a snowy night - wind cross-wove a veil of snow for her then threw confetti at us as we left the lighted church..."

"The scarlet thread,the red clay from which we were made, runs in tiny streams through all our veins, reminding us of where we began..."

"You either forgive a lover for abandoning you or you forgive God for taking them - either way you have to forgive..."

"You can use words if you wish, but I'm warning you - I've learned how to read your heart ..."

"Fingers of wind combed the lake into ridges-icy palm prints glistened wherever it rested."

"At seventeen I tried to write poetry confining myself solely to Anglo-Saxon words - don't know if it helped, but it made me more concrete ..."

"You know the way of the wind in the night-the desolate alleys my soul takes."

"We fear monsters because we fear the dark parts of ourselves..."

"Our hearts break, and take us out of relationships that are too painful for us."

"I've decided ... love is an eternity of slow motion replays ..."

"You do violence with your words if you force them - art is given - the words received, moment by moment from unseen hands - call it a Muse ..."