History says, Don’t hope On this side of the grave, But then, once in a lifetime The longed-for tidal wave Of justice can rise up, And hope and history rhyme

In fact, in lyric poetry, truthfulness becomes recognizable as a ring of truth within the medium itself.

The fact of the matter is that the most unexpected and miraculous thing in my life was the arrival in it of poetry itself - as a vocation and an elevation almost.

To begin with, I wanted that truth to life to possess a concrete reliability, and rejoiced most when the poem seemed most direct, an upfront representation of the world it stood in for or stood up for or stood its ground against.

I rhyme… to see myself, to set the darkness echoing.

Between my finger and my thumb The squat pen rests; snug as a gun. ~from the poem "Digging

Sink every impulse like a bolt. Secure The bastion of sensation. Do not waver Into language. Do not waver in it.