For Many Years, I Thought

If Our Children Are Unable To Voice What They Mean, No One Will Know How They Feel. If They Can’t Imagine A Different World, They Are Stumbling Through A Darkness Made All The More Sinister By Its Lack Of Reference Points. For A Young Person Growing Up In America’s Alienated Neighborhoods, There Can Be No Greater Empowerment Than To Dare To Speak From The Heart — And Then To Discover That One Is Not Alone In Ones Feelings.

I Never Think Of My Audience When I Write A Poem. I Try To Write Out Of Whatever Is Haunting Me; In Order For A Poem To Feel Authentic, I Have To Feel I'm Treading On Very Dangerous Ground, Which Can Mean That The Resulting Revelations May Prove Hurtful To Other People. The Time For Thinking About That Kind Of Guilt Or Any Collective Sense Of Responsibility, However, Occurs Much Later In The Creative Process, After The Poem Is Finished.

I Thought, After The Pulitzer, At Least Nothing Will Surprise Me Quite That Much In My Life. And Another One Happened. It Was Quite Amazing.

The Sound Of The Mandolin Is A Very Curious Sound Because It's Cheerful And Melancholy At The Same Time, And I Think It Comes From That Shadow String, The Double Strings.

People Write Me From All Over The Country, Asking Me, And Sometimes Even Telling Me, What They Think A Poet Laureate Should Do. I Found That Immensely Valuable.