That's a fairly Wordsworthian way to look at things! But yeah, actually - part of the poet's work, I think, is to maintain or reintroduce the imaginative capacity of their earlier self while nonetheless maturing. And I do think the more successful the poet is at this particular thing, the greater their achievement as a poet.

I hope I can write toward my interests. But poets should be afraid of too fluidly responding to what they're interested in.

I think I cause a lot of headaches for editors - it's impossible to keep up with the ridiculous amount of changes I make.

I don't know that I find either aspect of Jesus more interesting than the other, although maybe I think about the God one more.

I'm always glad that other people are way smarter about my poems than I am.

I had/have a habit of sending books out before they're ready. And then I edit with almost absurd intensity. But I've done about a book a year.

I think that the moment we're living in offers the best opportunity we've had in a long time in that a lot of things having to do with identity politics are being talked about in poems. The only problem there is that a lot of the time these are being talked about in confessional modes.