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 write as a way of keeping myself going. You build your life around writing, and it's what gets you through. So it's partly just curiosity to see what you can do.

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

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.

Among the American contemporaries I read with most enjoyment are several North Carolinians. I think the best poetry being written these days is being written by Southerners.

I considered going to film school; I took a course in film and was very interested in filmmaking as well as film writing.

Poetry, almost by definition, calls attention to its language and form.