It Takes A Long Time To Publish

As I Look Over My Work, I Mean Every Time I Look Over My Early Work, I See, Yes, I Could Do That Then And Then I Could Do That And That... That May Be The Hardest Thing For A Writer, At Least For A Poet, To Tell What The Identity Of His Work Is.

I Never Thought Of Myself As A New York Poet Or As An American Poet.

It Takes A Long Time To Publish A Book.

I Love Painting And Music, Of Course. I Don't Know Nearly As Much About Them As I Know About Poetry. I've Certainly Been Influenced By Fiction. I Was Overwhelmed By War And Peace When I Read It, And I Didn't Read It Until I Was In My Late 20s.

I Wonder If I Ever Thought Of An Ideal Reader... I Guess When I Was In My 20s And In New York And Maybe Even In My Early 30s, I Would Write For My Wife Janice... Mainly For My Poet Friends And My Wife, Who Was Very Smart About Poetry.