I think that you certainly don't have to be aged and travel the world to write a poem.

If the poem is so moving that even if you have no experience in that particular setting be it 1920's Harlem let's say. You still are so moved that you can put yourself in that position. That means that the writer has managed to go beyond the personal and touch the humanity in all of us and it's really a blast to read it because I realize how that this does hold true for the truly great poems.

I thought, after the Pulitzer, at least nothing will surprise me quite that much in my life. And another one happened. It was quite amazing.

I was apprehensive. I feared every time I talked about poetry, it would be filtered through the lens of race, sex, and age.

What is ironic is that Allen Ginsberg's importance was in its twilight for so many years that it took his death to bring it to the front page. He electrified an entire world!

When I was young, I was older than I am today.

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