When I first started working in politics as a junior aide on Walter Mondale's 1984 presidential campaign it never occurred to me that I would one day work in the White House. There were plenty of women among the volunteers who stuffed envelopes and walked precincts. But there were fewer and fewer on each successive level of influence and access.

I was influenced by surrealist poetry and painting as were thousands of other people and it seems to me to have become a part of the way I write but it's not.

I love painting and music of course. I don't know nearly as much about them as I know about poetry. I've certainly been influenced by fiction. I was overwhelmed by War and Peace when I read it and I didn't read it until I was in my late 20s.

I'm as much influenced by Joseph Smith and the Mormons as I am more so than by Eliot. Actually I'm much more influenced by the poetry of the Mormons.

Standing as I believe the United States stands for humanity and civilization we should exercise every influence of our great country to put a stop to that war which is now raging in Cuba and give to that island once more peace liberty and independence.

Malcolm X made me very strong at a time I needed to understand what I was angry about. He had peace in his heart. He exerted a big influence on me.

Whoever wants peace among nations must seek to limit the state and its influence most strictly.

The idea is that there is a kind of memory in nature. Each kind of thing has a collective memory. So take a squirrel living in New York now. That squirrel is being influenced by all past squirrels.

In the beginning you must subject yourself to the influence of nature. You must be able to walk firmly on the ground before you start walking on a tightrope.

Great classic music that I've been turned on to has not only inspired and influenced me but it has had an effect on my songwriting.