I've always just liked writing poetry, but it's much later that I've discovered that there's this whole poetry world out there, that you almost have to be accepted into, like this little club.

There's so much stuff being written! Every year, how many books come out? I can't keep up, and I read a lot. It's amazing.

My gut was always that if I taught students poetry, I would give too much of myself to them and have nothing left.

As I published books, I realized, that's not really what I want. I don't care about the books as much anymore. I just want to write poetry.

I think being a poet, period, is isolating.

I've always just liked writing poetry, but it's much later that I've discovered that there's this whole poetry world out there, that you almost have to be accepted into, like this little club.

I've always felt alone and isolated, and living on the West Coast, there's no poetry community out here, and if there is, it's really spread out - because it's LA, it's spread out.