Neither Of My Parents Has Been Very

The Language Poets Are Writing Only About Language Itself. The Ashbery Poets Are Writing Only About Poetry Itself. That Seems To Me A Kind Of Dead End.

I Write As A Way Of Keeping Myself Going. You Build Your Life Around Writing, And It's What Gets You Through. So It's Partly Just Curiosity To See What You Can Do.

I Seem To Keep Returning To My Father In Poems Because His Personality Was So Extreme, So Driven. He Did Everything To Excess.

I Encourage Students To Pursue An Idea Far Enough So They Can See What The Cliches And Stereotypes Are. Only Then Do They Begin To Hit Pay Dirt.

Among The American Contemporaries I Read With Most Enjoyment Are Several North Carolinians. I Think The Best Poetry Being Written These Days Is Being Written By Southerners.