I Was Apprehensive. I Feared

I Have A High Guilt Quotient. A Poem Can Go Through As Many As 50 Or 60 Drafts. It Can Take From A Day To Two Years - Or Longer.

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.

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.

Everybody Who's Anybody Longs To Be A Tree.

My Childhood Library Was Small Enough Not To Be Intimidating. And Yet I Felt The Whole World Was Contained In Those Two Rooms. I Could Walk Any Aisle And Smell Wisdom.