Profiles

Like, yes, I’m going to use way too many parentheses, I’m going to double back on myself . . . and I’m going to give myself permission to be verbally playful.

What do you leave in? What do you take out? When do you say what? We’re not experts on the Holocaust. We’re just experts on our story.

There’s a time in any writing process when the writing takes over and any sort of control I thought I had gets busy doing something else . . .

Comedy has helped me in my goal of trying to write tighter and get to the point quicker . . . If you’re doing a three-minute set, you don’t have time for filler.

In the essay form, I could not hide behind fictional characters or situations. I had to challenge myself to figure out exactly what I thought and then get that on the page.

I got to have a little wish fulfillment—to rewrite the ending of my own tragic tale, in a way.

I discovered that the essay was a place where it was okay to be confused and not have all the right answers.

Looking at some of these complicated issues—mothering, climate change, or grief—with a little bit of magic helps me get at them sideways, and in a language that seems more accessible for me.

I think it’s time to reclaim the word witch and what it means: a wise woman who’s been through the fire and has come out on the other side stronger, wiser, and fiercer.

I believe that poetry is one of the best containers for the questions we are living.

What I love about poetry is that you don’t need to answer the question. The question is the feeling, and it’s valid to never get an answer and not know.