I admire the attention other writers can give to the world we're walking in.

Defeat is a fact and victory can be a fact. If the idea is good, it will survive defeat, it may even survive the victory.

There's nothing compared to the history of writing about the city of New York that you get, say, in Charles Reznikoff.

When my own writing needs a perk, I open Zukofsky and read from "A" - particularly sections "22" and "23." It can be opaque, but I love the intensity.

Ironically the blog has re-opened the essay as a good form for me. I like to look and make commentary! If I sense my essays are good, I try to resubmit to another place in pulp and several of them have been variously published in newspapers and magazines.

I have fallen in love with American names, the sharp, gaunt names that never get fat.

American Muse, whose strong and diverse heart So many men have tried to understand But only made it smaller with their art, Because you are as various as your land.