"I’ve even read at M.M.A. fights, which is a perfect place to read lyric poems, where you can read one or two whole poems in between rounds."

"I think, at the risk of sounding overly dramatic or emo, I feel truer to myself while reading than I do experiencing the world through my body — so any chance to read is ideal for me. I think I feel often alien to the world and its variegated interfaces, whereas through the linear dependability of the sentence, I know exactly where I am, where I am standing...."

Says Ocean Vuong, in "Ocean Vuong Brings Books to Lunch Dates, 'Just in Case'" (NYT).

That was published last April. I'm reading it today because I got interested in the word "alterity."