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

I don't think poetry is something that can be taught. We can encourage young writers, but what you can't teach them is the very essence of poetry.

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

I learned to impersonate the kind of person that talks about poetry. It comes from teaching, I think.

In the best fiction, the language itself can become almost invisible.

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.

With prose you can incorporate more details, develop scenes, sustain the tension in a special way. Prose has its own speed.