I Keep The Drafts Of Each Poem

I Was Not Interested In Doing The Plot Of Oedipus In Blackface. I Did Wonder, What Would These People Have Been Like If They Hadn't Been In That Situation?... One Could Look At Oedipus, Or At My Character Augustus, As A Cynical Schemer Who Did Everything Because He Was Hungry For Power. But That's Just Too Easy. I'm More Interested In How Humans Can Embody Conflicting Goals And Emotions.

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

I've Always Felt That The Poems I've Written Which Have Historical Context Are Hopefully Not Just Simply Plucking Something Out Of History And Saying Great, Let's Write About That. In Every Case What Has Happened Is That I've Become Fascinated Or Haunted By Something And Couldn't Shake It.

When We Are Touched By Something It's As If We're Being Brushed By An Angel's Wings.

I Thought, After The Pulitzer, At Least Nothing Will Surprise Me Quite That Much In My Life. And Another One Happened. It Was Quite Amazing.