"[Alex Kuo’s poetry workshop] was the first place I ever read contemporary poems, especially contemporary American Indian poems. And I read one poem in particular that was revolutionary and revelatory. The line was, ‘I’m in the resrvation of my mind.’ It was by Adrian Louis, a Paiute Indian poet. For me, that was like, ‘In the beginning . . .’ It was , ‘Because I could not stop for death, death kindly stopped for me . . .’ It was ‘ I sing the body electric . . .’ It was all that and more. It was the first line I ever read in any work, any fiction anywhere that ever applied to something I knew. Literally, it was this flash of lightning, roll of thunder, Bert Parks parking, Bob Barker barking, where I understood everything that I ever wanted to be. At that moment. When I read that line. It was really like that, like a light switch. And at that moment I knew I wanted to be a writer."

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From Bob Ivry, "From the Reservation of His Mind." Bergen Record 28 June 1998.