The Poem Has To Bear The Weight

She Knows That Whispers Can Be Useful. Sometimes They Contain Real Information. But Usually They're Fairy Tales And Lies. This Is The Worst Kind Of Whisper, The Kind That Draws You In, Gives You Hope.

If I'd Learned Nothing Else, It Was This: If You Want To Be A Great Writer, Be A Man. If You Can't Be A Man, Write Like One.

I Wrote Before I Could Write. I Got My Hands On A Journal, Maybe A Hand-me-down; I Had Three Older Siblings. My First Entries Are In The Handwriting Of The Sister Closets In Age (5 Years My Senior). She Must Have Gotten Tired Of My Dictations Because She Gave Up And Then My Blocky Scrawl Shows Up. I Wrote Plays As A Kid Mostly.

I've Never Thought There Was Anything I Could Hope To Get By Praying For It.

I Didn't Start Writing So That I Could More Deeply Know Myself. I Was Bored Of Myself, My Life, My Childhood, My Hometown. I Started Writing As A Way To Know Others, To Get Away From Myself.