I Think Reading Shakespeare's Plays When I

At The Very Beginning When I Begin Writing A Poem I Try Not To Think Of The Audience Or Anyone At All Except For Trying To Get At The Very Center Of What Is Driving That Poem. In A Way It's Like Analyzing Myself.

I Was Apprehensive. I Feared Every Time I Talked About Poetry, It Would Be Filtered Through The Lens Of Race, Sex, And Age.

My Best Times Are Midnight To Six Actually. I'll Leaf Through My Notebooks And If Something Catches My Eye And I Feel Like I Want To Transfer It From The Notebook To The Page, I Do, And Then Comes This Very Strange Process Which Is Difficult To Describe In That I'll Write Until I Get Stuck Or I Can't Go Any Further Or I'm Boring Myself Or Whatever And Then I Might Go To Another Poem.

Sometimes A Word Is Found So Right It Trembles At The Slightest Explanation.

Instead Of Trying To Come Up And Pontificate On What Literature Is, You Need To Talk With Children, To Teachers, And Make Sure They Get Poetry In The Curriculum Early.