What actually makes poetry poetry is of course impossible to define. We recognize it when we hear it, when we see it, but we can't define it.

One of the most powerful devices of poetry is the use of distortions. You can go from talking about the way a minute passes to the way a century passes, or a lifetime.

What actually makes poetry poetry is of course impossible to define. We recognize it when we hear it, when we see it, but we can't define it.

The great watershed of modern poetry is French, more than English.

Some people want to call me an Appalachian writer, even though I know some people use regional labels to belittle.

I seem to keep returning to my father in poems because his personality was so extreme, so driven. He did everything to excess.

If people associate me with a region, that's fine with me.