A Family Is A Mystery.

Every Poet I Know - Although There May Be Some I Don't Know Who Lead Very Different Lives, Who Maybe Live In The Country And Don't Teach - Tends To Be Just Like The Rest Of Us: Just Really Busy, Really Overcommitted.

Poets Are Like Steam Valves, Where The Ordinary Feelings Of Ordinary People Can Escape And Be Shown.

Take Your Vitamins. Exercise. Just Work To Love Yourself As Much As You Can - Not More Than The People Around You But Not So Much Less.

She'd Crack A Joke Sharp As A Tin Lid Hot From The Teeth Of The Can-opener, And Cackle Her Crack-corn Laugh.

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.