For Many Years, I Thought

I See A Resurgence Of Interest In Poetry. I Am Less Optimistic About The Prospects For The Arts When It Comes To Federal Funding.

I Try To Show What It Is About Language And Music That Enthralls, Because I Think Those Are The Two Elements Of Poetry.

I'm Never Quite Sure How The Poem Is Going To Resolve Itself And That I'm Always In Some Way Surprised. I Make A Discovery In A Poem As I Write It.

I've Always Been Intrigued By The Way History Works, The Way We Decide What Is Mentioned.

I Grew Up In Ohio, Where Civil-rights Accomplishments Had Already Begun To Accelerate Before Martin Luther King Appeared. In Hindsight, We Know That Many People, Black And White, Were Instrumental In Changing The Jim Crow Status Quo On All Levels.