I Never Thought Of Myself As A

Maybe There Are Three Or Four Really Good Poets In A Generation.

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

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.

I Was Born In Cincinnati, Ohio. My Family Was Not Nationally Known As Being A Literary Family, Though My Mother And My Mother's Side Of The Family In General Were Interested In Literature.

Poetry, Which Is Written While No One Is Looking, Is Meant To Be Looked At For All Time.