“I am too pure for you or anyone.

From the poem "Fever 103°", 20 October 1962”

“Eternity bores me,
I never wanted it.

From the poem "Years", 16 November 1962”

“People or stars
Regard me sadly, I disappoint them.

From the poem "Sheep in Fog", 2 December 1962, 28 January 1963”

“I know the bottom, she says. I know it with my great tap root:
It is what you fear.
I do not fear it: I have been there.

--From the poem "Elm", written 19 April 1962”

“The person who wrote the poem can tell you more about the poem than anyone else.”

“It is raining. I am tempted to write a poem. But I remember what it said on one rejection slip: After a heavy rainfall, poems titled RAIN pour in from across the nation.”

“My poems are naughty, but my life is pure.”
Lasciva est nobis pagina, vita proba.

“I am no poet, but if you think for yourselves, as I proceed, the facts will form a poem in your minds.”

“Never tell your problems to anyone…20% don't care and the other 80% are glad you have them.”

“I am speaking to tell the truth, not from hatred or scorn of anyone.”