Much of our lives involves the word “no.” In school we are mostly told, “Don't do it this way. Do it that way.” But art is the big yes. In art, you get a chance to make something where there was nothing.

Poetry is the least imposition on silence in a world of chatter.

I speak to you in one tongue/ but every moment that ever mattered to me/ occurred in another language.

Try to write poems at least one person in the room will hate.

Learn the rules, break the rules, make up new rules, break the new rules.

I'm partial to coffee shops, brain work, and poems on the page. I write after midnight. Sometimes, twisty syntax happens, and I surrender.

Much of our lives involves the word “no.” In school we are mostly told, “Don't do it this way. Do it that way.” But art is the big yes. In art, you get a chance to make something where there was nothing.