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

I change jobs like drinking water ... And as I grow accustomed to the new flavor of a drink I regard as delicious, yes, vital, something fades, life balks. So I break camp; I shed skins.

I write short stories, and I wrote a play.

Can it be that even as one grows to fit the space one lives in, one cannot grow until there's space to grow?

I carry a notebook with me everywhere. But that's only the first step.

Being Poet Laureate made me realize I was capable of a larger voice. There is a more public utterance I can make as a poet.

My inspiration comes from everywhere, just walking down the street and I never know where it's going to come from, so I keep a notebook with me at all times and the only criteria for anything making it into that notebook is if it stops me in my tracks for even an instant, if it catches my eye or my ear and I just write it down.