I've spent much of my life being attuned to watching for an image or a phrase that can trigger what might be a poem - could become a poem.

I'm primarily a poet, so I'd have to say in my case I'd investigate the mystery in poetry in a different way than prose might investigate it, in a way that includes the power of the music of language and maybe more imaginatively in poetry, but I don't really know about better or worse. I guess it depends on the writer.

I have thought for many years that the audience any creative writer imagines has a great effect on what gets written.

As far as I can tell, writing the essays didn't change the way I wrote poetry. Although the essays contain scattered passages that might be called lyrical, they often contain closed statements of what is only suggested in the poetry.

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

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

One of the most important differences I see between prose and poetry is the music of the language.