I love kids that come to shows, little kids coming up to you with braces; like, some kid came up to me in a parking lot outside a show in Santa Cruz – he was about 14 or 15 – and he said, ‘Y’know, I love ‘The Basketball Diaries,’ but I hope your next book of poetry isn’t gonna be as academic as ‘Living at the Movies’ was.’ Jim Carroll Read Quote
I once said a poet has the right to sing as loudly and vocally as he wants to. Most poets should face a rock n’ roll audience for one night to keep them honest. Jim Carroll Read Quote
I should have stayed an athlete, body well-tuned, cruising around with my accountant in a Porsche, maroon and chrome. Jim Carroll Read Quote
These guys were always saying, ‘The minute you get onstage, it’s great, no matter how much you’re hurting.’ But that didn’t work for me. There were some nights I did not want to get out there. Jim Carroll Read Quote
Rock and roll kind of screwed up my voice poetically. I found myself having this ‘Beat’ voice in my poems. It was like this self-fulfilled prophecy because everybody was calling me this rock poet, this Beat poet. Jim Carroll Read Quote
