Poetry Dovetails Contradictions.

The Pleasure That I Take In Writing Gets Me Interested In Writing A Poem. It's Not A Statement About What I Think Anybody Else Should Be Doing. For Me, It's An Interesting Tension Between Interior And Exterior.

You Happened To Me. You Were As Deep Down As I’ve Ever Been. You Were Inside Me Like My Pulse.

As A Teacher You Are More Or Less Obliged To Pay The Same Amount Of Attention To Everything. That Can Wear You Down.

My Mother Was Told She Couldn't Go To Medical School Because She Was A Woman And A Jew. So She Became A Teacher In The New York City Public School System.

I Wonder What It Means About American Literary Culture And Its Transmission When I Consider The Number Of American Poets Who Earn Their Living Teaching Creative Writing In Universities. I've Ended Up Doing That Myself.