I think I'm a very good reader of poetry, but obviously, like everybody, I have a set of criteria for reading poems, and I'm not shy about presenting them, so if people ask for my critical response to a poem, I tell them what works and why, and what doesn't work and why.

American poets celebrate their bodies, very specifically, as Whitman did.

American poetry is always about defining oneself individually,claiming one's right to be different and often to break taboos.

I think I'm a very good reader of poetry, but obviously, like everybody, I have a set of criteria for reading poems, and I'm not shy about presenting them, so if people ask for my critical response to a poem, I tell them what works and why, and what doesn't work and why.

High and low culture come together in all Post Modern art, and American poetry is not excluded from this.

Sometimes the archaism of the language when it's spoken is why we are all in love with the Irish today.

Other people have noticed more of an evolution than I have and so I'll try to tell you where I'm coming from and also relate it to what I think other people perceive.