The decision to write in prose instead of poetry is made more by the readers than by writers. Almost no one is interested in reading narrative in verse.

I have taught students from the New York City area so long I have a special affinity and rapport with them. It surprises me sometimes that there are students from anywhere else.

The Black Mountain poet I like most is the early Creeley. Those early poems seem very lyrical and very traditional, with a lot of voice and character.

In the later books I am much more at home in the use of language to describe things. I had never thought of that until a critic pointed that out.

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

A poem in form still has to have voice, gesture, a sense of discovery, a metaphoric connection, as any poetry does.

When you have an idea for a story, you want those characters to reach as many people as you can. I think you normally think of prose as a way of doing that. It fits our time, the culture.