I've been influenced by poets as diverse as Dylan Thomas, Lewis Carroll, and Edgar Allan Poe.

In masks and gown we haunt the street And knock on doors for trick or treat Tonight we are the king and queen, For oh tonight it's Halloween!

My reading is extremely eclectic. Lately I've been teaching myself computer graphics, so I'm reading a lot about that. I read books of trivia, of facts.

A poet is not something you become; a poet is something you are.

Then I decided to draw from and on my own imagination, and everything came out perfect.

She comes by night, in fearsome flight, in garments black as pitch, the queen of doom upon her broom, the wild and wicked witch.

We all need ways to express ourselves, and poetry is one of mine.

I'm mostly influenced by life, what's around me, and my own childhood.

Writing gives me the opportunity to explore ideas, play with language, solve problems, use my imagination, and draw on my own childhood.

Poetry seems to sink into us the way prose doesn't. I can still quote verses I learned when I was very young, but I have trouble remembering one line of a novel I just finished reading.

Children seem naturally drawn to poetry - it's some combination of the rhyme, rhythm, and the words themselves.

You must stop living under the pressure of the environment and surrounding and culture and tradition.

Schizoid behavior is a pretty common thing in children. It's accepted, because all we adults have this unspoken agreement that children are lunatics.

Faith is not uprooted by dialectic proof it must already be deeply shaken by other causes to be unable to withstand the shock of argument.

There is but one secret to success: never give up.

When I was 40, I used to wonder what people thought of me. Now I wonder what I think of them.

I know that Instagram belongs to Facebook, so I cannot really stand on a political pedestal and say, "I'm against Facebook!" But I haven't wanted to be on Facebook from the beginning.

It is easy to take good pictures, difficult to take very good pictures, and almost impossible to take great pictures.

I think that realistically we can shoot for the title this year. If we stay healthy and be persistent throughout the season, I think we have good chance to go all the way.

Playtime and nature time are important not only for learning but also for health and development.

I play Orange County drums. I love those guys. I've got a four piece kit.