For Many Years, I Thought A Poem

The Joy Of Working At Something To Find Out What It Means To Me Is What I Grew Up With.

Anyone Can Tell You That How You're Raised As A Child Has A Great Deal To Do With How You Behave As An Adult And Whether You Have Complexes Or Whether You Need To Prove Yourself Or All That Kind Of Stuff And Yet The Mother In A Traditional Family Who Has Raised A Child Never Makes It In The History Books.

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.

To Me, A Poem Is Almost Like Someone Whispering To Another Person, Or You Hear The Whispering In Your Head. I Hope With My Own Poems That The Reader Feels A Connection, Soul To Soul, That'll Help Us All Feel A Little Less Alone On The Planet. And It Does Have The Power To Direct Change. A Writer Can Make The Word 'dark' Be Something Positive. You Can Relieve A Word Like 'hysterical' Of Its Misogynistic Implications. You Can Make The Language Your Own. That's What Poetry Is About.

For Years, I Had Heard About The Lack Of Interest In Literature In The U.s. And I Had Complained About The Lack Of Respect Artists Got Here. In My Heart, I Failed To Understand How People Could Fail To Be Moved By Art.