Poetry doesn't function by saying things straightforwardly because the language is too imprecise, too limited often, to address the underlying subject of most poems.

I'd rather call prose poems something else, for clarity - something like "poetic prose," prose that contains a quality of poetry, but not poems.

If I'm excited by something bodily, and curious about it, I generally want to delve into it and explore it with poetry. That's the way I ordinarily watch the world around me.

People sometimes think that defining a term is pedantic and useless, but terms need to be defined if they're going to be discussed, even if the terms are only defined for a single conversation. Those involved in the conversation need to know how the terms are being used.

Ordering is very important with essays, even if a reader doesn't read the essays or the poems in order through the book...

I do love writing prose interspersed with the poetry of other people. Their rhythms break into my prose and create a connection.

It sounds old-fashioned to say, but we have some kind of purpose for being here, not poets or writers, but all of us humans.