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.

I encourage students to pursue an idea far enough so they can see what the cliches and stereotypes are. Only then do they begin to hit pay dirt.

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

Young writers find their first audience in little magazines, and experimental writers find their only audience there.

Maybe the example of Southern fiction writing has been so powerful that Southern poets have sort of keyed themselves to that.

Our most famous writers are Faulkner and Eudora Welty and Flannery O'Connor. It would make sense that the poetry would reflect some of those same values, some of the same techniques.

Distance not only gives nostalgia, but perspective, and maybe objectivity.