Now, the process of writing poetry is very messy. Not systematic, never quite the same

A stress on the system and I think a painful thing for many young poets who are looking to find a life in poetry that they're not going to be able to find.

A certain kind of poetry looks back at experience from an older perspective.

But, that was the beginning, though I didn't start writing until I was in high school and when I was in high school I really began to write poetry with great energy and enthusiasm.

But, something has to be worked through formally as well as emotionally. Now, when those two things come together I've got something, I think, that I can be proud of.

I don't think poetry will die, but I think that poetry does demand a certain kind of attention to language.

Gertrude Stein said, "I write for myself and strangers." I would say I write for myself, strangers and the great dead.