I've Never Shown Anybody A Draft Of

When You Grow Up In A Totally Segregated Society, Where Everybody Around You Believes That Segregation Is Proper, You Have A Hard Time. You Can't Believe How Much It's A Part Of Your Thinking.

Most Of My Inspiration, If That's The Word, Came From Books Themselves.

I Used To Write Sonnets And Various Things, And Moved From There Into Writing Prose, Which, Incidentally, Is A Lot More Interesting Than Poetry, Including The Rhythms Of Prose.

Generally The First Week In September Brings The Hottest Weather Of The Year, And This Was No Exception. Overhead The Fans Turned Slow, Their Paddle Blades Stirring The Air Up Close To The Ceiling But Nowheres Else.

I Began The Way Nearly Everybody I Ever Heard Of - I Began Writing Poetry. And I Find That To Be Quite Usual With Writers, Their Trying Their Hand At Poetry.