If I begin writing a poem that means I'm intrigued in some way by whatever it's about and that if I'm not trying to find something new and pushing the envelope in the poem I can't expect my reader to be particularly excited about it either.

A good poem is like a bouillon cube. It's concentrated and it nourishes you when you need it.

I was pirouette and flourish, I was filigree and flame. How could I count my blessings when I didn't know their names?

Have you ever heard a good joke? If you've ever heard someone just right, with the right pacing, then you're already on the way to poetry. It's about using words in very precise ways and using gesture.

I write short stories, and I wrote a play.

You have to imagine it possible before you can see something. You can have the evidence right in front of you, but if you can't imagine something that has never existed before, it's impossible.

Listen how they say your name. If they can't say that right, there's no way they're going to know how to treat you proper, neither.