And We Can't Avoid An Inch Of

Poems Are Taught As Though The Poet Has Put A Secret Key In His Words And It Is The Reader's Job To Find It. Poems Are Not Mystery Novels.

Actually, When I Look At My Old Notebooks, I Think I Have Been A Bit Self-indulgent And Have Given Myself Too Much Time To Meander In My Discursive Thoughts. I Could Have Cut Through Sooner. Yet It Is Good To Know About Our Terrible Selves, Not Laud Or Criticize Them, Just Acknowledge Them. Then, Out Of This Knowledge, We Are Better Equipped To Make A Choice For Beauty, Kind Consideration And Clear Truth. We Make This Choice With Our Feet Firmly On The Ground. We Are Not Running Wildly After Beauty With Fear At Our Backs.

I Consider Writing Practice A True Zen Practice Because It All Comes Back At You. You Can't Fool Anyone Because It's On The Page.

This Is The Practice School Of Writing. Like Running, The More You Do It, The Better You Get At It. Some Days You Don't Want To Run And You Resist Every Step Of The Three Miles, But You Do It Anyway. You Practice Whether You Want To Or Not. You Don't Wait Around For Inspiration And A Deep Desire To Run ... That's How Writing Is Too ... One Of The Main Aims In Writing Practice Is To Learn To Trust Your Own Mind And Body; To Grow Patient And Nonaggressive.

Too Often We Take Notes On Writing, We Think About Writing But Never Do It. I Want You To Walk Into The Heart Of The Storm, Written Words Dripping Off Hair, Eyelids, Hanging From Hands.