It’s all about the mood I’m in and the scene I’m writing. ‘Cause work controls my life, writing controls my life, performing controls my life. So I don’t listen to any music that’s not an influence on what I’m working on that day. Music is a big influence in my work and sometimes drives the energy of where I want to go.
Performing
I really just love reading. It’s my favorite thing, performing my poems live. Reading by reading, I just kind of follow my nose.
More than in any other performing arts the lack of respect for acting seems to spring from the fact that every layman considers himself a valid critic.
Work controls my life, writing controls my life, performing controls my life.
We become just by performing just action, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave action.
I want my soldiers – I mean artists – to be young and strong, with tireless energy performing impossible feats of cunning and bravura.
For the last 15 years that I have been performing, all I ever wanted to do was transcend poetry to the world. See, it wasn’t enough for me to write a book. It wasn’t enough for me to join a slam competition, and while those things hold weight, it wasn’t the driving force that pushes the pen to the pad.