We do very little re-writing in the office. We often take on people who show great promise and who we hope will develop into somebody important and someone good.
James LaughlinI think most people read and re-read the things that they have liked. That's certainly true in my case. I re-read Pound a great deal, I re-read Williams, I re-read Thomas, I re-read the people whom I cam to love when I was at what you might call a formative stage.
James LaughlinOf course a poem is a two-way street. No poem is any good if it doesn't suggest to the reader things from his own mind and recollection that he will read into it, and will add to what the poet has suggested. But I do think poetry readings are very important.
James LaughlinI think there's no excuse for the American poetry reader not knowing a good deal about what is going on in the rest of the world.
James Laughlin