Poetry connects you to yourself, to the self that doesn't know how to talk or negotiate.

In working on a poem, I love to revise. Lots of younger poets don't enjoy this, but in the process of revision I discover things

Poetry connects you to yourself, to the self that doesn't know how to talk or negotiate.

I've always been intrigued by the way history works, the way we decide what is mentioned.

The joy of working at something to find out what it means to me is what I grew up with.

In fact, sometimes traveling the world is a way of not writing a poem, but it's the quality of experience. It's being able to experience something and when you begin to write about it be able to apply the tools that you need for writing.

From the time I began to read, as a child, I loved to feel their heft in my hand and the warm spot caused by their intimate weight in my lap; I loved the crisp whisper of a page turning, the musky odor of old paper and the sharp inky whiff of new pages. Leather bindings sent me into ecstasy. I even loved to gaze at a closed book and daydream about the possibilities inside.