She'd Crack A Joke Sharp

Many Poets Write Books. They'll Tell You: Well, I've Got My Next Book, But There Are Two Poems I Need To Write, One About X, One About Y. This Is A Wonder To Me.

Poems Come From Ordinary Experiences And Objects, I Think. Out Of Memory - A Dress I Lent My Daughter On Her Way Back To College; A Newspaper Photograph Of War; A Breast Self-exam; The Tooth Fairy; Calvinist Parents Who Beat Up Their Children; A Gesture Of Love; Seeing Oneself Naked Over Age 50 In A Set Of Bright Hotel Bathroom Mirrors.

Baseball Is Reassuring. It Makes Me Feel As If The World Is Not Going To Blow Up.

The Decision For Me Was Whether To Have 'the Father' Be A Book That Told A Story - From The Point Of View Of This Speaker, The Daughter - Without, As In The Earlier Books, Then Having A Section On Something Else And A Section On Something Else.

Writing Or Making Anything-a Poem, A Bird Feeder, A Chocolate Cake-has Self-respect In It. You're Working. You're Trying. You're Not Lying Down On The Ground, Having Given Up.