"When I begin to doubt my ability to work the word, I simply read another writer and know I have nothing to worry about. My contest is only with myself, to do it right, with power, and force, and delight, and gamble."
"There's nothing to stop a man from writing unless that man
stops himself. If a man truly desires to write, then he will.
Rejection and ridicule will only strengthen him. And the longer
he is held back the stronger he will become, like a mass of rising
water against a dam. There is no losing in writing, it will make your toes laugh
as you sleep, it will make you stride like a tiger, it will fire
the eye and put you face to face with death. You will die a fighter,
you will be honored in hell. The luck of the word. Go with it, send it."
— The Captain is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship
"No wonder Van Gogh blasted his head off. Crows and sunlight. Idle zero. Zero eating your guts like an animal inside, letting you shit and fuck and blink your eyes, but nothing, a nothing."
— Screams from the Balcony
"I was their bar freak, they needed me
to make themselves feel
better.
just like, at times, I needed that
graveyard."
— You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense
"it's colder than hell (yes) but
the blankets are thin,
and the pulled-down shades
are as full of holes as love is."
— The People Look Like Flowers at Last
"we know God is dead, they've told us, but listening to you I wasn't sure."
— Love is a Dog from Hell
"I can never drive my car over a bridge without thinking of suicide.
I can never look at a lake or an ocean without thinking of suicide."
— The Captain is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship
"I often carry things to read
so that I will not have to look at
the people."
— The Last Night of the Earth Poems
"For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can't readily accept the God formula, the big answers don't remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command nor faith a dictum. I am my own god. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us."
