It wasn't a deliberate decision to become a poet. It was something I found myself doing - and loving. Language became an addiction.

It wasn't a deliberate decision to become a poet. It was something I found myself doing - and loving. Language became an addiction.

Poetry is a kind of distilled insinuation. It's a way of expanding and talking around an idea or a question. Sometimes, more actually gets said through such a technique than a full frontal assault.

I excavate history. I look at lives buried under too much silence. Periods of time, like slavery, have to be revisited, reimagined, so we can move through them.

My great-grandfather Melvin had been a carpenter - so was my father - and they taught me the value of tools: saws, hammers, chisels, files and rulers. It all dealt with conciseness and precision. It eliminated guesswork. One has to know his tools, so he doesn't work against himself.

Whoever said men hit harder when women are around, is right. Word for word, we beat the love out of each other.

Poets are seen as the caretakers of language, so working with words no matter what the form is what we do.