Listen How They Say Your Name. If

To Me, A Poem Is Almost Like Someone Whispering To Another Person, Or You Hear The Whispering In Your Head. I Hope With My Own Poems That The Reader Feels A Connection, Soul To Soul, That'll Help Us All Feel A Little Less Alone On The Planet. And It Does Have The Power To Direct Change. A Writer Can Make The Word 'dark' Be Something Positive. You Can Relieve A Word Like 'hysterical' Of Its Misogynistic Implications. You Can Make The Language Your Own. That's What Poetry Is About.

I Never Think Of My Audience When I Write A Poem. I Try To Write Out Of Whatever Is Haunting Me; In Order For A Poem To Feel Authentic, I Have To Feel I'm Treading On Very Dangerous Ground, Which Can Mean That The Resulting Revelations May Prove Hurtful To Other People. The Time For Thinking About That Kind Of Guilt Or Any Collective Sense Of Responsibility, However, Occurs Much Later In The Creative Process, After The Poem Is Finished.

Have You Ever Heard A Good Joke? If You've Ever Heard Someone Just Right, With The Right Pacing, Then You're Already On The Way To Poetry. It's About Using Words In Very Precise Ways And Using Gesture.

My Father Is A Chemist, My Mother Was A Homemaker. My Parents Instilled In Us The Feeling That Learning Was The Most Exciting Thing That Could Happen To You, And It Never Ends.

To Practice Your Scales, So To Speak, In Order Play The Symphony, Is What You Have To Do As A Young Poet.