I'm Seventy-one Now, So It's Hard To

I Have A Sense That Many Americans, Especially Those Like Me With European Or Foreign Parents, Feel They Have To Invent Their Families Just As They Have To Invent Themselves.

But Most Commonly, It's One Poem That I Work On With A Lot Of Intensity.

You Have To Follow Where The Poem Leads. And It Will Surprise You. It Will Say Things You Didn't Expect To Say. And You Look At The Poem And You Realize, 'that Is Truly What I Felt.' That Is Truly What I Saw.

But I'm Too Old To Be Written About As A Young Poet.

No One Can Write Like Vallejo And Not Sound Like A Fraud. He's Just Too Much Himself And Not You.