When I first started to write, I was aware of being queer, but I didn't write about it. Queer poems would probably not have been accepted by the editors I sent them to.

I was much influenced by Jean-Paul Sartre.

I think most men, heterosexual and homosexual, enjoy being considered sexual objects.

I notice that students, particularly for gay students, it's too easy to write about my last trick or something. It's not very interesting to the reader.

Death is not an event in life: we do not live to experience death. If we take eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the present.

Running at night used to frighten me. Part of it was simply safety, the question of whether level ground would truly appear under each tentative footstep, and whether the temporary but complete blindness suffered while running toward headlights was, in fact, concealing death.

I rely on guns for protection in life. God does not say, 'This is la-la land.' God doesn't say, 'Welcome to Earth. Everything's perfect. There's no crime. There's no murder. There's no death.' The world is imperfect, and you have to be on guard.

When I turned 50, I realized I was now going to start counting backwards in terms of the years I had left. Then I turned 60, and I just stopped counting. I don't have a fear of death, but I have an awareness that there's a time limit.