I Grew Up In Ohio, Where Civil-rights

I Think If You Put Something In A File That Says "war Poems" Or "love Poems" That You Already Restrict The Way In Which The Poem Might Move.

At The Very Beginning When I Begin Writing A Poem I Try Not To Think Of The Audience Or Anyone At All Except For Trying To Get At The Very Center Of What Is Driving That Poem. In A Way It's Like Analyzing Myself.

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.

What Writing Does Is To Reveal.

My First Advice Would Be To Read, Read, Read, Which Sounds Interesting Coming In A Digital Age, But It's So Much Easier To Listen To A Poem Than It Is To Sit Down And Actually Read It And To Hear It In Your Head And That Is Something That Every Poet Or Aspiring Poet Needs To Be Able To Do, I Think To Hear It In Their Head.