Poetry and prose are of equal importance to me as a reader, and there doesn't seem to be much difference in my own writing.

I've been writing poems and stories since I was about 13.

My personal opinion is that if someone writes honestly about war, it will inherently be anti-war.

Writing was always an aspiration, but I'd kept it a secret even from myself.

Noises and smells, those can bring back powerful memories. I remember when I was going to school one Fourth of July, and there were a lot of fireworks going off. I knew that I was in Richmond. I knew that I was a college student. But I thought people were shooting at me.

I guess I find the boundaries between poetry and prose to be somewhat permeable.

It's not just: you get off the plane, you're back home, everything's fine. Maybe the physical danger ends, but soldiers are still deeply at risk of being injured in a different way.